The GHC80,000.00 sustainable development initiative, which consists of a newly-constructed furrow irrigation system and a solar-powered mechanised borehole, is intended to benefit over 1,700 persons, and offer an alternative to rain-fed agriculture, enabling farmers, whom the company considers its backbone, to cultivate crops all year round.

Speaking at the handing-over ceremony at Tindongo, Mr. John Baptist Akado, Brand Manager of ABL’s locally-sourced cassava beer, Eagle Lager, said ‘ the Eagle Farmer Project is the company’s promise to farmers, as well as the symbol of our commitment to improving the income of small-holder farmers in Ghana’.

Mr. Akado further said the Upper East Region had benefited the most as it bore the full brunt of the longest dry season, which lasts between seven to eight months.

“It is our hope, therefore, that the Project will help mitigate the extreme financial woes the dry season places on our farmers,” he added.

The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr. Rockson Ayine Bukari, commended ABL for its Eagle Farmer initiative, noting that it would go a long way to ensure food security and consequently contribute to reducing poverty in the Region.

Mr. Bukari also charged the five-member caretaker committee set-up to ensure the longevity of the initiative, to own the Project and ensure the community reaped its benefits to the fullest.

Since its introduction in 2015, the Eagle Farmer Project has complemented governments’ efforts at promoting irrigation infrastructure in farming communities, thus immensely improving the lives of small-holder farmers, whose fortunes would have otherwise been dependent on erratic and increasingly unfavourable weather conditions.

Over the two-year period, four communities spanning the Volta, Upper East and Western Regions of Ghana have benefited from the deployment of irrigation facilities.

These communities are Yirene, in the Bolga Municipality of the Upper East Region; Gbi Avega in the Volta Region; Paga Kajelo, and Huniso in the Upper East and Western regions respectively.

The inauguration and handover at Tindongo is the first of two projects in the Upper East Region, with the second project, sited at Gambibgo in the Bolgatanga Municipality ready for inauguration and handover in the first week of November, 2017.