Infrastructure

Inadequacy of basic infrastructure in the district is a factor to poverty manifestation. Basic community services like education, water supply, sanitation, health facilities, good roads and opportunities for personnel advancement make poverty manifest itself district wide. About 95 percent of the roads are not tarred and in very poor state with some other road networks not accessible. Education and health infrastructure are found in poor and devastating conditions. The high illiteracy level of the district has constrained their ability to adopt modern technology. This situation has led to the use of low and indigenous technologies in their farming activities which generates low returns.

Surface Accessibility to Facilities and Services

i.Transportation

Transport serves as a complementary utility which has direct impact on the socio economic and the political aspects of the people. Most parts of the district lack tarred roads. The road densities are low, which means that roads are not connecting many communities. This sparseness of the roads contributes to poor distribution of food and other farm produce such as cocoa, cassava, and timber from production centres. The surface accessibility to services could therefore be described as poor.

The road system in the district is categorized into two major classes, namely: 2nd class and 3rdclass. The road classification was premised on the nature of the road as well as the frequency of use of the roads. Moreover, the 2ndclass roads have features such as being tarred and having relatively high operation of vehicles on them. Also, the 3rdclass roads were all the feeder roads within the district and are mostly not tarred with several potholes as well as occasional operation of vehicles on them. These roads lead to the major agricultural producing centres. These roads are in deplorable condition and usually become unmotorable in the rainy season, thus locking up agricultural produce, leading to high post-harvest losses.

ii. Health

The district has only one hospital located at the district capital, Jacobu and 6 clinics located at Tweapease, Mile 14, Numereso, Abuakwaa, Fenaso No.1 and Hia No.1. There are 14 trained Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) and 5 CHPS compounds which complement the services of the Hospital. Access to health services is low within the district. Unfortunately, the health facility at Tweapease got burnt in 2013 but has been reconstructed by the Assembly.

iii. Education

The District has 104 Pre-schools, 102 Primary schools, 45 Junior High Schools, 2 Senior High Schools and 1Vocational/Technical School. Accessibility to the Senior High School is very limited due to the limitation to some boarding facilities in the School.

iv. Markets

The district has only one main market centre at Jacobu, the district capital and few satellite markets in some of the communities.  The nature of the settlement pattern and road network has made patronage of these markets rather poor, thereby causing high post-harvest losses.

v. Postal Service

There is only one post office at Jacobu which serves the entire district.

vi. Banking

The District has three financial institutions namely Odotobri Rural Bank Ltd, GN Bank and Opportunity International Savings and Loans Limited all located in the district capital Jacobu.

vii. Police

There are two Police Stations one at Jacobu and the other one at Afoako and a police post at Apitisu. The District Police Headquarters which is the directorate of the District Police Command is also located at Jacobu. The total number of policemen in the District is twenty-nine (29). Even though the staff strength has increased appreciably to twenty-nine (29) over the years the district still needs additional personnel and posts.

viii. Agricultural Extension Services

There are 15 Extension Officers in the District. There is low access to extension service in the district. There is the need to increase the number of Extension staff to enable all farmers have adequate attention from the experts to improve agricultural production hence increase their economy.

ix. Production and Marketing Centres

The district produces large amounts of cocoa and other food crops, such as cassava, plantain, maize, rice and vegetables. Foodstuffs produced by farmers are mostly locked up due to inaccessibility of the roads.

x. Information Communication and Technology (ICT)

ICT plays a very important role to the development of every district. Considering the essence of these facilities to the development of the district it is important to analyze the extent of access to the ICT education and facilities. The district has only one computer laboratory at the Jacobu Senior High School but needs expansion to make it accessible to all the students. There is no internet café throughout the district. Plans are in place to network the new district assembly structure and also to procure new computers to enable all offices have access to computer.

Commodity Flows

The District has 2 main inflows, namely foodstuffs (fish, legumes and yams) and manufactured goods. Outflows from the District are foodstuffs, forest products (Timber) and gold. In terms of outflow of agricultural goods from the district, the receiving settlements are Kumasi, Obuasi, Bekwai and Dunkwa. Most of the agricultural goods exported to these places are mainly root and tubers, cocoa, cereals such as maize, starchy staples such as plantains, cassava and vegetables as tomatoes, garden eggs to mention but a few.  Foodstuffs such as legume, fish and Yam are imported from other parts of Ashanti, Western and the Central Region whiles the manufactured goods come from Kumasi and Obuasi.

Apart from the external exchange of goods, there are internal exchanges of goods in the district. The market centres serve as the focus of the exchange. Goods are brought and bought from these market centres to and from other communities in the district. However, most commodities such as foodstuffs are mainly transported to Obuasi due to the poor nature of roads leading to the main market at Jacobu.

Manifestation of Levels and Locations of the Poor and Functional   Regions

The district is one of the most deprived in the region, social amenities such as Schools, Hospitals, Banking and Telephone facilities are lagging or inadequate.  Road network is poor and the only tarred road is from Afoako Junction to Jacobu which is 8km. The major occupation of the people is subsistent farming and this is characterized by low yields mainly due to low soil fertility, erratic rainfall pattern, small farm sizes and low adoption of improved farming techniques. High poverty levels of the people are manifested in the (poor dwellings), teenage pregnancy, high rate of divorce and high incidence of diseases such as Buruli-Ulcer, Bilharzia which is manifested district wide.

Nature of Physical Development and Problems of Town Planning/ Development

Most settlements (Housing) were not planned.  Majority of the buildings were constructed with mud and are very old and weak.  Some of the communities’ need to be redesigned and this will cause demolition of many buildings. Haphazard development has led to excessive erosion and exposure of foundation.  With the help of Zoomlion, the refuse are collected and dumped at the final site.