THE WHITE VOLTA SUB-BASIN - Sustainable Irrigation Development in the White Volta Sub-Basin - page 15

In the Nakambé sub-basin alone (in Burkina) more than 400 dams and small
reservoirs have been built over the past years to develop irrigation and
generate electricity. About 47 irrigation schemes have been identified with
2,620ha developed and out of that 1,000ha are irrigated from the Bagre dam.
An estimated 2,175ha of inland valleys are to be added to the irrigable land
in the basin. Irrigated land in the Nakambé sub-basin is relatively small
compared to the vast potential for irrigation that the large volumes of water
stored behind the numerous dams can offer (Barry et al., 2005).
The rich savannah grassland provides good fodder for livestock production in
the sub-basin. In Ghana, data show that animal husbandry in four regions,
the Upper-East, Upper-West, Northern and Volta, which fall exclusively in
the Volta Basin, account for 83.5% of cattle, 57.7% of sheep, 64.1% of goats,
and 68.8% of pigs produced in Ghana annually (Barry et al., 2005).
Fish production is also an important activity in the sub-basin. The
developments of dams have enhanced fish production extensively. In Ghana,
the Volta Lake created by the Akosombo Dam produced about 87,500 metric
tons of fish in 2000. The Volta Lake produces about 98% of the inland fresh
water fish in Ghana (Barry et al., 2005).
Bagre and Kompienga are the largest reservoirs in the Nakambé sub-basin
and are used for power generation, irrigation and environmental purposes in
Burkina Faso (Barry et al., 2005).
Development potentials have been identified in the Ghana section of the
White Volta sub-basin which includes a total of 63 megawatts of
hydroelectric power generating capacity, 360,000 hectares of irrigation, flood
control, domestic water supply, navigation and recreation (Wiafe, 1997).
2.5 W ATER G OVERNANCE IN THE W HITE V OLTA
SUB - BASIN
This section looks at the water governance structures and institutional
arrangement within Ghana, Burkina Faso and at the transboundary level, in
so far as they relate to the White Volta sub-basin.