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AGRICULTURAL SECTOR

The Bia East District forms part of the Wet Semi-Equatorial climatic zone with two rainfall peaks (double maxima) between April-June and September – December respectively. The vegetation of the district is Equatorial Rain Forest (Semi deciduous) type. The forest vegetation is made up of hundreds of different tree species, including Wawa, Mahogany, Esa, Ofram, Edinam, Onyina, Kyenkyen and Odum. Significantly, about 80% of the population is engaged in agriculture. The district is basically rural.

The edaphic and climatic conditions favour the cultivation of varieties of tree crops, food crops, livestock production and aquaculture. Important food crops produced in the district are cocoyam plantain, yam, cassava, rice, maize and vegetables. Cocoa is the most important cash crop produced in the district. The district is considered to be one of the food baskets in the region.

 

Agriculture serves as the backbone to the development of Ghana’s economy and represents the major economic activity in the Bia East District. An agricultural household is defined as a household where at least, one person in the household is engaged in any type of farming activity, namely crop farming, tree growing, livestock rearing and fish farming. This chapter seeks to analyse the agriculture activities of the district in two main areas: to describe households in agriculture and not in agriculture, and the types of farming activities undertaken by the households in agriculture.

Types of Agricultural Activities

Table 7.1 shows households in agriculture by type of farming activity and locality. It can be seen that 79.7 percent of the households are into agriculture (this depicts that the district is largely an agrarian district). With regard to the type of agriculture activity, crop farming represents the main type of agriculture activity practised in the district (95.7%), followed by livestock rearing of 46.6 percent.



Type of Livestock, animals reared and Keepers

Table 7.2 provides information on the distribution of livestock, other animals and keepers in the district. It can be seen from the table that the total number of livestock reared in the district is 81,377 and these are kept by 3,197 persons. This translates into an average of 25 livestock per keeper. Birds, mainly chicken are the most popular (67.0%) livestock kept by households in the district. Ducks are also common in the district, accounting for 1.6 percent of all animals reared. Among ruminants, goat rearing is the most prominent (7.0%) followed by sheep (6.8%). About 147 of the households are into beehive keeping, but no one rears snail in the district.


 

Date Created : 11/18/2017 1:38:42 PM