POPULATION

Population Size, Age and Sex Distribution

The total population of Agona East District is 85,920, according to the 2010 Population and Housing Census, representing 3.9 percent of Central Region’s population (2,201,863). The females (44,885) make up 52.2% of the population as against 41,035 (47.8%) males denoting more females than males in the District (Table 1). The sex ratio 91.4, implies 91 males per 100 females which is on par with that recorded for the region (91) and a little above that of the nation, 92%(GSS, 2012;GSS, 2014). Throughout life, it is also expected that at every age mortality rates for females would-be lower than that of males.

Table 1.27: Age-sex structure of Agona East District

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2014

Age and Sex structure as explained by population pyramid.

The shape of the pyramid is largely influenced by the levels of fertility, mortality and migration.

Figure 3: Pyramid of Agona East

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2014

Population of Agona East

The Figure above depicts the age-sex structure of the population of Agona East District. The broad base of the pyramid shows a younger population consisting of large numbers of children and the narrow apex signifies a small older population. It also shows that the population is predominantly females than males. With increasing age, the proportion of males is slightly smaller than females, indicating that at older ages, the proportion of males is lower than that of females.

The high proportion (59.29%) of the populations aged 0-24 years indicates that the population in the District is more youthful. It has a working population is about 52.8% whiles the younger and elderly population who are taken care of is about 47.2% (i.e. the aged: 6.0% and the Children: 41.2%)).This gives a dependency ratio of 89.4. This means that every 100 working adult cares for about 89dependents if all the population within the economically active age cohort were in active labour force. This is high as compared to the regional and national figure, 81.4%and 79.2%, respectively.

This burden of dependency could still be minimized with combined measures of increased job opportunities and increased productivity (GSS, 2014a; GSS 2014b). The population of the major settlements is shown in the table below.

Table 1.28: Major Settlements and their Population Trend

Source: 2010 Population and Housing Census – GSS

Population Growth Rates and projections

The Agona East District’s Estimated Population stands at 85,920 with a growth rate of about 3.3% p.a. However, the growth rate of the major towns shows a higher average growth rate with females slightly dominating at an estimated population of 44,885whilethemale population was estimated at 41,035 (source: 2010 population &Housing Census).

Below is the formula for population projection within the period:

Pt=PoE (rt)

Where Pt is the projected population, Po is the base year or current population, Eis the constant(2.7182820), r is the growth rate and t is the projection period.

Using the formula Pt=PoE (rt) , projected population for the District is as follows: 1.16.3 Projected Population for the District for the next four years

Table 1.29: Projected Population:

Table 1.30: Projected Population Based On Sex

Population Management

Population management is through family planning programmes mounted by MOH through all the health centers. The most patronized family planning devices are orals, injectable, spermicides and condoms. Effort will continue to be made to reduce population growth, although there is a declining trend in population growth as depicted by the 2010 population census.

GENDER EQUALITY

Gender Roles of Males and Females

In order to integrate the needs of men and women of the Agona East District Assembly, the district has mainstreamed gender into its programmes to give the same opportunity for equal participation and contribution towards development of the district. It is in line with this, that the District has formulated its main objective to; Enhance Gender Equity and Improve the Advocacy for women in the Communities and in public Life. The District has an estimated Population of 85,920withfemale slightly dominating at an estimated population of 44,885 while the male population is estimated at 41,035.

Even though women dominate in population and in almost all the communities as indicated above, women contribution and participation towards development of the district has been minimal because;

· Society’s beliefs, customs and practices such as the widowhood rites, inheritance system have restricted majority of women from participating and benefiting from development effort unlike their male counterpart. This has resulted in few women climbing the social ladder of the district.

· The district has 32 Assembly members including the Member of Parliament and the District Chief Executive; only 2 of the members are women. This wide gap means that Gender sensitive policies and institutional structures to address gender inequalities at the district will require a systematic effort from all parties and if possible, a male driven initiative.

· It is inescapable facts that, the number of girls sent to school begin to decrease after primary six (6) from their male counterpart as a result of their biological make-up. This has created disparity in the number of educated and independent men to women.

In Education, B.E.C.E Results Analysis For 2016 shows that about 8 girls were absent from the examination centre and could not write their exams which would affect their educational attainment. Furthermore, the result below also shows that a higher percentage of the boys have been able to pass from the Basic school. This means more boys will dominate the second cycle and tertiary institutions and hence the formal sector of the district.

Table 1.31: Gender Segregation Of Students Performance in 2016 BECE

SETTLEMENT SYSTEMS

Human Settlement Patterns

The District has 288 settlements. The important towns in the District are: Nsaba, Kwanyako, Asafo,Duakwa, Mankrong, and Mensakrom as shown in table 52 below.

Table 1.32: Scalogram of the District

Hierarchy of Settlement and its Implications

The analysis revealed five (5) levels of settlements within the district. Nsaba, the district capital was the highest. Duakwa and Kwanyako were the second order settlements. The third (3rd) other settlements were made up of Oketsew, Amanful no. 2, Mankrong and Asafo. These settlements are to provide some services to the surrounding satellite towns. However, for one reason or the other they are not able to do so due to the distances from these settlements to the main towns. Such that even though these settlements have some basic facilities the transportation systems are not efficient hence people in need of basic facilities end up in the district capital, Duakwa and Kwanyako because it is easier to access the facilities from these towns than the lower order ones.

The fourth (4th) order settlements were Mankrong Junction, Ofoase, Obratwaowu, Duotu and Mensakrom. The fifth (5th) order offers the lowest services such as nursery and primary schools, streams and dugouts. These were the satellite communities. Most of the settlements were found outside the functional region, which is an indication that there are spatial imbalances in the distribution of services in the district and some communities are cut-off from enjoying socio-economic services

Services and facilities are concentrated at Nsaba (District Capital) and Kwanyako. Of the30services listed, Nsaba has 22 services. Duakwa follows Nsaba with 20 services. Hence, if development is to benefit the populace and have a wider coverage there is the need for these lower order settlements to be upgraded

Commodity Flows

In this analysis, market surveys (Buyers and Sellers) ware conducted in the district for Two months to determine the extent of natural interaction between the market centres and their surrounding areas. The analysis helps in establishing a trade balance for the district in terms of Agricultural and Industrial goods. The flow considers sellers and buyers of two market centres namely Duakwa and Mankrong Junction markets.

Both Exogenous and endogenous flows were classified under agricultural and industrial goods in the district and their economic values were measured in monetary terms.

The basic functions of these markets are retailing of agricultural produce (like fish, tomato, pepper, okro, garden eggs onion, cassava,) mainly produced from the di   strict and manufactured items (like clothing, hardware, cosmetics and provision) coming from Accra and Swedru

Exogenous Flows

The exogenous Flows refer to the exchange of goods between the district and other districts within the country. In other words it is the goods moving beyond the boundaries of the district. These flows can be goods from eternal sources (exogenous inflows or imports) and leaving the district to outside destinations (exogenous outflows or exports).

Endogenous Flows

Endogenous Flows refer to internal exchange of goods between the communities in the district, irrespective of where they are produced. The analysis of these flows helps to determine areas of intensive interaction in the district and functional region.

Criteria for the Selection of the Centres for the Scalogram

The categorization of the above communities was based strictly on the accessibility to the basic needs in the district as well as the population of the communities. To be precise the cut off point for the selection of these communities was a population threshold of over 400 with a minimum presence of at least five (5) facilities. Below is the matrix showing the presence of facilities in the selected towns before the weighting for the scalogram. The handicap of the matrix only shows the presence of the facilities in the communities but not the number and conditions of the facilities in the community, which is the best.

As a country that is embarking on poverty reduction one of the strategies to enable accelerated development is to spread in an equitable manner the national social and economic benefit that accrues to the nation. This can be done though the focus on growth within selected development centers in the district or spatial entity in our case being the grade 4 settlements.

Currently there is a weak link between the existing networks of settlements in the district even though they are all well linked and easily accessible to each other. Hence, it is the notion that if there is a balanced consideration for the development of these mid-level settlements the rural communities can benefit from this well-equipped semi urban centers.

Hence, if these settlements are well developed they can provide sufficient markets, service and storage facilities as well as labour intensive industries for the processing of local materials as being proposed by the Government under the Rural Enterprise Development Programme.

Given the high capital outlay needed for the establishment of these satellite towns it is proposed that two of them are developed in the interim (Mensakrom and Akwakwaa) because of their locations. They are right in the heart of the hard-core poverty pockets in the district.

Distribution of Health and Water facilities

All the areas and settlements along the major roads have access to pipe borne water supplied from the Kwanyako Water Works. Again, for all settlements with population over 500 have access to a borehole or well water facility. Hence, over 73% of the total population has access to potable water. Accessibility to water facility is not a big issue in the district since with the criteria set by CWSA all settlements that qualify for water have been catered for and unless the national threshold is changed; those without water would forever be without water. The above is the situation because the major settlements are all along some form of roads be it a first class or second or even feeder. With reference to the foregoing, water cannot be used as a measure of the degree of accessibility in the exercise.

With respect to health services and facilities almost all the towns in the Fourth hierarchy of settlement have one form of health facility or the other and they cater for the surrounding settlements they all have their referral being Agona Swedru District Hospital and to Accra should the need arise. Their spatial distribution seems even and well spread.

Housing

Most housing types in the district are compound with few detached and semi-detached in the large settlements like Nsaba, Duakwa, Asafo, Kwanyako and Mankrong. Generally, the outer wall of the houses are built with Mud, land crete and cement block with 44.1%, 2.2%and 50.8 %(see table below) respectively. Few plastered walls. In the large settlements like Nsaba, Duakwa, Asafo and Kwanyako, the buildings are plastered with cement. On a wider scale, most of the roof shaves aluminium sheets. The foundations of most houses in towns like Aboano, Essuso, larger parts of Duakwa and Kwanyako, have been attacked by erosion because of heavy downpours from rains and stormy water from poor drainage around houses. Constant sweeping and intensive weeding around houses have contributed to the worsening of these conditions.

Again, most houses have no toilet facilities and therefore inmates depend on the few public toilets. Few houses have kitchens and the main courtyard is usually used for such purposes. Houses with no in-built bathrooms normally have their bathrooms outside the main house or are made as attachment to the main house. The resultant effect is the threat to public health by the exposure to sludge, which has drained into empty spaces creating fertile breeding grounds for mosquitoes and other diseases causing pathogens.

Table 1.21: Nature of Houses

Ghana Statistical Service, 2010 PHS Fig. 1.8: Nature of Houses