Sand winning activities continue to wreak havoc as majority of farmers in the Savelugu municipality of the Northern Region have lost their farmlands.
Tipper trucks from Tamale and other neighboring communities fetch countless trips of sand from Savelugu every day.
Hitherto, these sand winners fetch the sand from the riverbank but have in recent times moved upstream due to pressure from Ghana Water Company and now destroying people’s farms. A situation which the farmers describe as a threat to food security and climate change.
Alidu Mohammed, maize farmer has lost his two-acre field which he cultivated to feed his family to sand winning. He says life will be tough for him and his family as he will not be able to farm on the land.
“I am concerned about the next farming year. Now the land has been destroyed meaning I cannot farm this year, and this will bring a lot of hardship on myself and the family.”
“I have lodged a complaint to the chief, but it appears he supports their activities. You can see am getting weak and can’t travel far distance to get a new field, so I’m confused, “he lamented.
Women and children have also been affected.
“Hundreds of commercial Shea and Dawadawa trees have been lost to this activity and that’s our biggest source of livelihood” a woman narrated.
“We are appealing to government and other organizations interested in environmental protection to come to our aid,” she pleaded.
Studies have shown that global demand for sand mining for construction materials has tripled in the past two decades, reaching an estimated 400 billion tonnes per year, and since the demand for sand exceeds its supply, sand and gravel extraction threaten the fight against climate change and its associated effects.
Urgent action is needed to avoid a “sand crisis”, says the United Nations Environment Programme.
Intervention
CLIP and YEFL Ghana, nonprofit organizations in Tamale have over the past nine months been implementing a two- and half-year project dubbed ‘GoAdapt’ project in four districts namely; Tolon, Kumbungu, Savelugu and Nanton.
The project seeks to promote inclusive adaptation plans from the community level to the National level and strengthen the adaptive capacity of vulnerable smallholder farmers and youth in Northern Ghana.
For Advocacy and Engagement Officer for the GoAdapt project, Fathiaya Zakari, Sand winning is an act that needs to be banned looking at the current situation in the Northern Region.
“Protecting the lands and water resources is a communal responsibility and I am happy this displeasure is coming from the Youth. It shows that, the Youth are ready to protect their future,” she said.