The Government of Ghana has inaugurated 25 solar-powered boreholes across five northern regions in a GH¢8 million initiative aimed at enabling year-round vegetable production and expanding economic opportunities for women farmers in communities historically constrained by erratic rainfall and a short farming season.
The facilities were commissioned under the Greater Rural Opportunities for Women 2 (GROW 2) programme, funded by Global Affairs Canada and implemented by Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) in partnership with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA). The symbolic inauguration ceremony was held at Moglaa in the Savelugu municipality.
Each borehole is fitted with solar-powered pumps, water storage systems and irrigation tools. The 25 installations are expected to open roughly 50 acres of irrigable land and serve more than 3,000 women farmers organised into Savings and Loans Groups across 11 districts in the Northern, Upper West and Savannah regions.
Agriculture Minister Eric Opoku said erratic rainfall had historically suppressed productivity and caused seasonal unemployment across the northern belt. He described the boreholes as a strategic intervention to build food security and reduce poverty, adding that the project positions northern Ghana to become a hub for continuous vegetable supply to domestic and regional markets.
Canadian High Commissioner Myriam Montrat said Canada’s commitment to the sector would outlast the GROW 2 programme, which concludes in September 2026. “Behind each number is a story of a woman gaining independence,” she said, describing the boreholes as engines of rural transformation.
The GROW 2 project targets 40,000 smallholder women farmers, 5,000 entrepreneurs, and 50 agribusinesses across the soybean, groundnut and vegetable value chains in the Savannah, Upper West and Northern regions. The borehole programme is accompanied by training, agricultural inputs and market access support designed to convert improved water access into sustained income growth.
Farmers in beneficiary communities expressed optimism that reliable irrigation access would allow them to expand and diversify crop production and could help slow rural-urban migration by creating viable local livelihoods through the dry season. The use of solar energy is expected to cut operational costs and insulate farmers from fuel price volatility over the long term.
