Physical and Natural Environment

Location and Size

Amansie Central District Assembly is one of the forty-three (43) Administrative Districts in the Ashanti Region. It was carved out of the erstwhile Bekwai District in 2004 by legislative Instrument (L1) 1774, 2004. It has about 206 settlements with Jacobu as the Administrative Capital. The District shares common boundaries with Amansie East to the north east, Amansie West to the west, Obuasi District Assembly to the south east, Adansi North to the east, Adansi South to the south and Upper Denkyira in the Central Region to the south (see figure 1).

The District can be found within Latitude 6000N and 6030N and Longitudes1000W and 2000W. It covers a total surface area of about 710 square kilometres (441.17sq miles) and forms about 2.5 percent of the total area of the Ashanti Region. The District has a location advantage since it is located in the forest zone of Ghana and that, the forest serves as a means of improving the climate which help agricultural production. Moreover, the district is known for its agrarian nature which is a major source of employment and offers large production of foodstuffs for most people in and outside the District.

Climate: Rainfall, Temperature and Humidity

The district experiences semi-equatorial climate. This is characterized by double maxima rainfall. The major rainfall season begins in March and ends in July, whilst the minor season starts from September and ends in November. The annual rainfall is between 1,600mm-1800mm. It has a fairly high and uniform temperature between 200C and 320C with a mean of 280C. The relative humidity however ranges between 70 and 80 percent in the dry season.

Vegetation

The main vegetation in Amansie Central District is semi-deciduous forest. Some of the tree species found in this area areOdum, Wawa, Obeche, Edinam, Mahogany and Sapele. There are two main forest reserves in the district and these are Oda and Subin. The vegetation has been seriously disturbed as a result of human activities such as poor farming systems, bush fires and indiscriminate lumbering. The result is that primary/virgin forest is found in pockets in few areas with secondary forest widespread.

Relief and Drainage

There are three main rivers in the district, namely Oda, Offin and Fena. Additionally, there are a number of perennial and seasonal streams in the district. River Offin flows along the south eastern border and also forms the boundary between the Ashanti and Central Region. Human activities such as dredging in these rivers for gold and other such activities along most of these water bodies are reducing their size which affects farming activities.

The district is located within the forest dissected plateau region with an average height between 150 metres and 300 metres above sea level. The relief of the District is generally undulating with few hilly areas. The elevation of the low-lying areas adjacent to the hills is between 240 and 300 metres above sea level and areas with this topography are Numereso, Apitisu, Tweapease and Abuakwa.

The relief and drainage supports farmers in irrigating their food crops during the dry seasons. The existence of several streams/water bodies in the District enhances irrigation and will therefore promote all year round farming making food available in the District. The beautiful natural nature of the hills is a potential for development therefore there’s the need for value addition to improve tourism and add to revenue, thus improving on the general development of the district. Furthermore streams found in the district provide sources of water for domestic use.

Soil and Agricultural Land Use

Geology and Minerals

The district is underlain by three geological formations. These are the Birimian, Tarkwaian and Granite rocks which are rich in mineral deposits. Gold is abundant in the district and mostly located at Apitisu, Amamom, Anyankyiremu, Adubrim, Fiankoma, Jacobu and Aketechieso. In addition, there are sand and gravel deposits at Patase, Afoako, Esreso, Asikasu, Nkoduasi and Amponya.

Conditions of the Natural Environment

The district is located within the forest belt and as a result different species of tropical hardwood of high economic value such as Odum, Edinam, Wawa and Mahogany are abundant. This has given rise to legal and illegal lumbering activities. Lumbering activities are high in areas around Numereso, Oseikrom, Abuakwaa and Tweapease. High rate of timber extraction through destructive logging techniques have led to:

- Destruction of food and cash crops

- Depletion of economic trees as a result of lack of implementation of comprehensive reforestation policies, neglect of afforestation and destruction of young trees

- Deterioration of the physical state of the roads which become unmotorable during the rainy season

The activities of AngloGold Ashanti (AGA) and other small scale mining operations have also had negative effects on the environment. These include:

- Pollution of rivers and water bodies, both surface and underground

- Pollution of the air from mining dust

- Destruction of large tracts of vegetation

- Blast vibrations resulting in structural weakness and collapse of houses

- Numerous uncovered pits which serve as breeding grounds for mosquitoes and Cyanide spillage which causes deaths and soil infertility

- Poor farming practices such as slash and burn have also contributed to soil erosion and loss of soil fertility.

Conditions of the Built Environment

The activities of the populace living within and outside the district do not only affect the natural environment but also manifest in the built environment, that is, the portion of the district where the populace live. More importantly, it is an undeniable fact that, the natural environment is affected by the activities from the built environment and vice versa.

The built environment highlights the way of life of the people in terms of shelter, living conditions and practices that have direct bearing on the environment (i.e. both the built and the natural environment). The predominant type of housing in the 206 communities within the district can be described as compound houses. However, there are few self-contained houses mostly in the big settlements. About 80% of the houses are built with mud. The housing environment in the district is characterized by poor drains. About 73.7% of houses have structural defects.

The average household size of the district is 7.1 which is higher than the national average of 5.2 persons and room occupancy of 5.0 persons, the housing problem is both qualitative and quantitative. Most of the houses in the district lack facilities such as water, electricity, telephone and toilets.

With the drainage system is generally poor in all communities in the district. The nature of drains in the district is mostly trenches which are found behind houses and u-shape drains of which most of them are choked and cracked. This has resulted in excessive erosion and exposed foundations of houses. The situation is more pronounced in areas like Jacobu, Tweapease, Fiankoma and Abuakwaa.

The implication of this phenomenon is that, the existence of stagnant water in choked trenches and gutters serves as breeding grounds for mosquitoes which cause outbreak of various diseases like malaria, cholera and related diseases in the district.

 Impact of Human Activities on the Environment

Activities both from the natural environment and built environment have impacted negatively on the livelihood of the people. Some of the impacts are discussed below;

• Farming

- Deforestation

- Erosion

- Pollution

- Siltation of water bodies

- Drying of water bodies

• Bush fires

- Loss of soil fertility

- Deforestation

- Erosion

- Destruction of flora and fauna (natural habitats)

• Mining

- Pollution (both air and water)

- Creation of gulleys

- Erosion (soil)

- Skin diseases

- Tuberculosis (respiratory diseases)

- Destruction of crops

- Cracks and collapse of buildings

- Social vices (divorce, defilement, rape, etc)

- Child labour (child trafficking)

- High school drop-out rate

- Teenage pregnancy

- Prostitution

• Fishing

- Pollution of rivers (e.g. Oda River)

• Hunting

- Destruction of forest

- Destruction of game and wild life

- Destruction of crops

Disaster Situation in the District

The district experiences some forms of disaster which are caused by:

i. Bush burning

Bush fires are caused by farming, hunting as well as palm wine tapping. Bush fires destroy not only the forest, game and wildlife but also tracks of cocoa farms, food and cash crops.

ii. Mining pollution

Mining activities affect the quality of air in the atmosphere, destroys the vegetation and habitat of wildlife, and also pollutes river bodies.

Mining activities have created large numbers of uncovered pits at Adubirem, Anyankyirem, Amamon and Akatekyieso etc. Mining blasts have caused cracks and collapse of buildings at Adubirem, Anyamkyirem, Amamom, Akatakyieso, Krodua and Hemang. Similarly, heavy blasting and water pollution by mining have led to resettlement of communities such as Kronko, Badukrom and Attakrom. Stone quarrying and sand weaning have impoverished arable lands at Afoako, Nkoduase and Esereso.

iii. Rain storms

The high elevation in most parts of the district and deforestation in such places often lead to destruction of buildings during rainstorms. Such rainstorms usually rip off roofs leading to the collapse of buildings. Presently, there are over 40 households that have been displaced by rainstorms at Fenaso No. 3, Akrofrom, Amponya and Hia. There are also some communities such as Atabrakoso and Huu that experience occasional flooding.

Aesthetic Features and Land Management (Land Tenure System)

The district has several sites of historical, scientific and aesthetic importance, which are potential attraction spots. These include:

i. The Subin Shelter Belt Forest Reserve, Oda River Forest Reserve

ii. The Ayanta shrine at Aboabo where people go for divination

iii. Penipa Shrine

iv. Adubrem mine pit.

Lands are mostly owned by families and chiefs. The family ownership has led to land fragmentation and continuous use of one piece of land with resultant loss of soil fertility.

Implications for Development – Physical and Natural Environment

The levels of interactions among the various features and characteristics show both positive and negative developmental implication. The following are the implications derived from the physical and natural environment in the district.

The district abounds in natural resources such as mineral deposits, rock and hilly formations which are suitable for quarrying and constructional works. Large deposits of gold have led to proliferation of large and small scale mining activities in the district. The district therefore derives reasonable revenue in terms of royalties from mining companies. e.g. AngloGold Ashanti.

However, mining activities have impacted negatively on the environment in the form of pollution of rivers and water bodies, destruction of food and plantation crops, soil degradation, and destruction of human settlements and creation of mine-pits. Added to this is its competition with agricultural land. Reasonable numbers of the youth have drifted into illegal surface mining (‘galamsey’ operations) leaving only the aged for farming activities.

The result is the high cost of food stuff and occasional famine experienced in some parts of the districts during a period of the year. Deep pits created as a result of mining activities collect water and serve as breeding grounds for mosquitoes which increase the incidence of malaria. There is also a high incidence of accidental deaths and many unsuspecting farming and innocent children who undertake their economic activities in these areas fall into the uncovered pits and die.

The favourable climate and relief as well as vegetation attract more people into the district to farm. Bi-modal rainfall pattern supports crop production throughout the year. The soils are fertile for most crops. However, farm sizes are small primarily due to land ownership. Fragmentation of land due to the land tenure system makes commercial farming very difficult and has therefore contributed immensely to smaller farm sizes per farmer in the district.

The district shares boundaries with five (5) districts. Most of the districts are well developed. Most of the products from the district therefore find their way to other districts and this limits the revenue generation efforts. For instance, agricultural products from this district find their way to Obuasi, Bekwai and Dunkwa and the rates on produce are paid to these districts.

The large size of the district makes resource allocation inadequate. For example the District Assembly Common Fund among other funds are given without recourse to size thereby putting the district in a disadvantaged position. It also makes the cost of distributing facilities high.

The poor housing condition in terms of exposed foundation and cracked walls are threats to life and property and should be given immediate attention. The haphazard manner in which buildings have been put up makes it difficult for a comprehensive lay-out.

Poor accessibility to most communities makes it difficult to transport foodstuffs to marketing centres, thereby depriving farmers of income. The illegal activity of chain-saw operators depletes the forest and also deprives the district of substantial revenue.