The Buka community in the Wa West District has received a major boost to its agricultural sector following the handing over of an 85,000-cubic-metre capacity dam and irrigation facility.
The dam, handed over on Monday, March 9, 2026, is a multi-purpose infrastructure that covers 30 acres of irrigable land.
It aims to ensure year-round farming and curbs the annual rural-urban migration of the district’s youth.
The facility was delivered under the Strengthening Community Resilience through Community Action Plans (CAPS) project.
Implemented by ActionAid Ghana, the project is co-funded by the European Union (EU) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development through the REACH project, which is implemented by GIZ.
The Country Director of ActionAid Ghana, Mr. John Nkaw, expressed profound gratitude to the funders, commending the contractors, Bricks and Mints, and highlighting that building community resilience relies heavily on teamwork, partnerships, and collaborations.
Delivering remarks on behalf of Paulina Rozycka, the Programme Manager for Agriculture at the EU Delegation to Ghana, Celina Prud’homme Madsen noted that the facility will completely change the equation for a community largely dependent on rain-fed agriculture.
“With a capacity of 85,000 cubic metres and 30 acres of irrigable land, this dam opens the dry season as a productive time of year,” she stated.
The Coordinator of the EUGAP-Programme Coordination Unit, Mr. Faustine Amegah, highlighted that the investment complements the government’s flagship ‘Feed Ghana Programme (FGP)’.
He strongly encouraged the formation of a Water Users Association to partner with traditional authorities to “protect and properly manage this facility.”
The Project Leader for GIZ, Beate Weiskopf, emphasised that the infrastructure was rooted in the community’s own identified priorities, making it a visible example of practical resilience-building in action.
The District Chief Executive for Wa West, Mr. Richard Wulo, who chaired the occasion, described the dam as a “beacon of hope” and pledged the Assembly’s technical support for the construction of canals.
Speaking on behalf of the community youth, Paul Nwinlanaa described the intervention as a “life-changer”, noting that about 90 per cent of the village relies on farming, which had previously been entirely dependent on the single rainy season.
“The community has lost many of its workforce to the south due to inadequate job opportunities. We believe it is now time to call our men home because ActionAid has brought south to our community where we can now farm all year round,” he stated, pledging that the community would maintain the facility for generations to come.
Delivering a speech on behalf of the Upper West Regional Minister, Charles Lwanga Puozuing, the Chief Director for the Regional Coordinating Council, Pognaa Fati Issakah Koray, emphasised that the region stands at the frontline of climate vulnerability.
She stressed that the project is not merely an infrastructure achievement but an “economic intervention”, a “social protection mechanism”, and a “poverty reduction strategy”.
“In a region where agriculture is not merely an occupation but the backbone of survival, water is life. Water is income. And water is dignity,” she added, urging the community to guard the facility as their own future.
Under the sustainable water management component of the broader CAPS project, a total of five dams, five irrigation facilities, and 60 boreholes have been successfully completed across the participating districts, signalling a new dawn for food security and climate adaptation in Northern Ghana.
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