The   District Assembly was carved out from the East Mamprusi District in 2004, through LI 1748. Bunkpurugu township serves as the District capital and the seat of the District Chief Executive. It is one of the deprived and less developed districts in the Northern region. Below is a profile of the district

Location And Size:

The district is located to the north-eastern corner of Northern Region.  It shares boundaries with Garu-Timpani district in the Upper East Region to the North and the Republic of Togo to the east.  It is bordered to the west by East Mamprusi and to the South by Gushegu and Saboba/Chereponi Districts. It is on longitude.... and latitude 0?. The district has an estimated total land size of 1,257.1square kilometres which is 2% of the land size of northern region. Below is a map indicating pictorial location of the district.

Relief and Climate 

The District lies about 1850 above sea level on hilly grounds with isolated rocky areas that are not arable. It is situated in the tropical continental belt western margin and experiences a single rainfall regime in April to October after which, it comes under the influence of the tropical continental air masses.  (CT). The mean annual rainfall is about 100cm to 115cm.  The annual range of temperature is about 390C as the highest and as low as 250 C.

Table 1 shows the number of Wet days in 2014. The total number of wet days was 44 which is woefully inadequate to support plant life, hence, low agricultural production which is rain fed. The rainfall is also very erratic.

Topography And Geology

The topography is generally gently rolling with the Nakpanduri (formerly, Gambaga) escarpment marking the Northern limits of the Volta in Sandstone Basin. Apart from the mountainous areas boarding the escarpment there is little runoffs when it rains.  This implies that for a greater part of the District rainwater seeps into the groud. 

Soil

Two main types of soils are found in the district.  These are the Savannah Onchrosols and the ground water literates.  The Savannah Ochrosols, which covers almost the entire district, is moderately well drained up land solids developed mainly on Voltain Sandstone. The texture of the surface soil is loamy sand to with good water retention. Savannah Ochrosols has high potential for wide range of crops.  Some areas do not appear to be fully utilized although they are under considerable pressure in the district.  In farming on this land, good farming practices focusing on soil conservation are imperative. 

The groundwater Laterites, which covers a smaller portion of the district, is found mainly in the Southern parts.  These are concretionary soils developed mainly in voltain shale, mudstone and argillaceous sandstone materials.  The soil is highly concretionary with frequent exposures of iron pan and boulders. 

The soil is perfectly drained during the wet season and perched water tables may develop.  It becomes extremely dry in the dry season.  Also exposure enhances formation of ironstone resulting in soil degradation. The build-up of any amount of organic matter is constrained by regular burning of crop residues and/or competitive use of these residues for fuel, animal feed or building purposes. 

The low vegetative cover during the dry season also renders most of the soils susceptible to erosion during the rainy season.  This, in turn, exacerbates the low fertility problem.  The sustainability of good crop yields is therefore closely linked with careful management of the soils with the objective of preventing and controlling erosion, increasing their organic matter content (compost, crop residues, farmyard manure, etc) and replacing and increasing plant nutrients lost through erosion, leaching and crop uptake.

Environment and Natural resource Management 

The vegetation is woodland savannah type with tussles of grass. There is very little built environment. Soil management practices, including soil fertility management, tree-planting projects and bush burning control for sound environment. 

Bush burning during the dry season is rampant.  Some of the communities have unwritten bye-laws backed by threats and fines per arrest, but they are generally ineffective. 

The overdependence of the population on forest materials for residential buildings, storage structures and energy cannot be overemphasized.  All the communities depend on thatch, swish, or Sand Crete obtained from their immediate locality.  Fuel wood and charcoal are the major source of energy in all communities.  About 86 percent of all respondents depend on wood collected from wild. 

There is a fair understanding of the fact that the depleting of forests is exacerbated by rapid rate of forest product use.  Yet some people crop around water bodies, plough along ridges and do not see tree-planting exercises as important.  There are no specific strategies spelt out for protecting watersheds and managing pastures although all the communities had ongoing education campaigns on the dangers of mismanaging natural resources. 

By the classification of the United Nation Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD, 1997) the district falls within the desertification zone of Ghana (EPA, 2003).  Issues related to climate change and natural resource use and management should, therefore, be appropriately addressed if sustainable socio-economic development in the district is to be achieved.