Water brings livelihood

Father and son watering their crops

Water brings refreshment, wherever and however it is used. This is shown in the story of Buoti, a small community in the Tumu Program Area of Plan Ghana, where water, used in irrigation is transforming lives.

Water retention project: a priority

Buoti is a farming community and rain fed farming used to be its main source of livelihood. The Buoti community used to face difficulties in getting water for their crops and cattle during the 8 month dry season in northern Ghana. As part of its community development outline, Buoti identified the construction of a water retention facility as a priority project both for irrigation purposes and for animal watering.

Boy helping in harvesting tomatoes

Plan Ghana supported the Buoti community to realise their dreams. Consultants were commissioned to undertake a feasibility study which determined that an earth embankment dam would be the best option. Therefore, the Buoti Irrigation dam project commenced in 2004. The project has an irrigable area of 10 hectares and is divided into 100 plots for 100 households. It also has 2 drinking troughs where cattle and sheep drink.

By 2006, with the project substantially completed, enough water had been stored for irrigated farming to commence.

Children now eat nutritious meals

At the onset of the dry season in November 2006, the hard-working people of Buoti set to growing all kinds of vegetables. Today, the farmers of Buoti are harvesting tomatoes, pepper garden eggs, beans and a lot more. This is the first year and judging by the harvest, it is envisaged that subsequent harvests would be super.

Due to the Buoti community irrigation dam, today the children in Buoti can have nutritious meals, even in the peak of the dry season. Parents also make enough money by selling their farm produce to support their children’s education and upkeep.