Economy

The Kintampo North Municipal economic activity can be described as purely agrarian in that almost every resident in the area is a farmer.  Majority of the people are engaged in agriculture and its related activities. Yam is the main crop produced in the area and constitutes the main source of household income for the people. Other crops grown in the area are Maize, Cowpea, Cassava, Rice, Plantain, Egushie, Groundnut and Beans. Cashew, Mango, Tomatoes, Onions, Water Mellon, Garden eggs and Soya beans which have potential to increase the incomes of farmers.

Local Economic Development

The Kintampo North Municipal economic activity can be described as purely agrarian in that almost every resident in the area is a farmer.  Majority of the people are engaged in agriculture and its related activities. Yam is the main crop produced in the area and constitutes the main source of household income for the people. Other crops grown in the area are Maize, Cowpea, Cassava, Rice, Plantain, Egushie, Groundnut and Beans. Cashew, Mango, Tomatoes, Onions, Water Mellon, Garden eggs and Soya beans which have potential to increase the incomes of farmers.

Major Economic Activities

The Kintampo North Municipal economy can be described as purely agrarian in that almost every resident in the area is a farmer.  About 71.1% of the population is engaged in agriculture and its related activities as their main economic activity.  The remaining 28.9% are distributed among commerce, industry and services.

Agriculture

Agriculture being the major economic activity constitutes the main source of household income in the area.  The major food crops produced in the area are Yam, Maize, Cowpea, Cassava, Rice, Plantain, Egushie, Groundnut and Beans. Cashew, Mango, Tomatoes, Onions, Water Mellon, Garden eggs and Soya beans have potential to increase the incomes of farmers. Despite the efforts of the farmers, frequent bush-fires, High cost of inputs, inadequate extension services, Prevalence of pests and diseases, in access to credit and poor market prices and market facilities account for the low yield of farm produce in the area:

Markets

Apart form the weekly markets at Kintampo, Babatorkuma, Dawadawa, Gulumpe, New Longoro which fall on every Wednesday, Sundays, Fridays, Fridays and Saturdays respectively there is no market in the area anywhere. All communities come to these markets to sell or by their needed goods. 

Apart from Kintampo and Babatorkuma, which has well-constructed market, there is no other well constructed market in the district. The main marketing goods are yam and cassava. Figure 1.7 shows the major agriculture producing areas and marketing centres in the Municipality. 

Banking Facility

The main banking facilities in the Municipality include the Ghana Commercial Bank, National Investment Bank and the Kintampo Rural Bank. All these banks are located in the Municipality capital. The Kintampo Rural Bank seem to be the only banking facility in the area according to interviewees which offers the opportunity to mobilize savings and provide credit facilities to farmers and small-scale businessmen.

Lorry Station

Lorry Stations are located at the Kintampo and Babatorkuma markets.  However, some drivers still park by the main road for passengers to Tamale, Techiman, Sunyani, Kumasi and other parts of the country. Transport to the hinterlands is usually difficult to access on non-market days due to poor surface condition of feeder roads.

Telecommunications and Postal Services

There are presently the One Touch, Tigo and Areeba GSM networks in the area. These however cover about 60% of the Municipal area. There is also few fixed line by Ghana telecommunication available in the district. Presently, there is only one Post Office in the district located at Kintampo. Figure 1.8 shows the distribution of postal, telecommunication, judiciary and security services in the Municipality.

Household Income and Expenditure

One basic indicator of standard of living of people is the level of income as well as expenditure pattern.  It is believed that the higher the income level, the higher the standard of living and vice versa.  It is in the light of this assertion that the GPRS II has as its ultimate goal of increasing growth and reducing poverty to the lowest level by 2015. The survey therefore captured the income and expenditure pattern of the people in the District. The income situation is analyzed in table 1.6 pdf file attached below.

The average monthly income for the services sector is ¢200, 000 which is also the lucrative sector in the district.  The least lucrative sector in terms earning per month is industry.  Looking at table 17, food accounted for the highest expenditure item with a percentage of 42.5.  This gives the idea of the fact that about half of the total income is spent on food. Expenditure on farming  accounted for 14.21%, the second highest expenditure item. The least expenditure item is on education accounting for only 3%.

Income Distribution and Poverty Profile

Inequality in the distribution of income is one the major problems in most developing countries like Ghana.  Therefore to ascertain how the income of the District is distributed a survey was conducted to determine the income level of the inhabitants. From the survey, it was revealed that, income is unfairly distributed against New- Longoro and Kadelso Area Councils. It was also observed that about 21.0% of the income is earned by the top 10% of the people.  The lower 20% of the people earns only 6%.  
 
The annual average income of the Municipality is estimated at about ¢924,000.00.  This is above the national poverty line of ¢136,000 which cuts about 25% of all Ghanaians as poor and about 7.4% as very poor.  The survey revealed that only 5% of the population falls below the poverty line of ¢136,000 per annum.  Poverty pockets were identified based on the analysis of the characteristics of poverty in the various Urban and Area councils.  

Revenue and Expenditure Status

Local revenues are those that are generated within an area of authority of a Municipal Assembly. The main sources of revenue are broadly classified under the following headings-rates and receipts, lands, fees and fines; licences, rent payments on items of property of the Assembly; ceded revenue; investment income; incomes from trading services and miscellaneous incomes. Each one of these revenue heads has individual revenue items as its constituents. The major constituents of rates and receipts include basic rate, property rate, payments on landed properties; payments on plots of land acquired but not developed, producers’ and exporters fees on all kinds of assorted agricultural produce, rent payments on market stores and stalls and their operators’ periodic operations. 

Lands’ revenue derives basically from stool lands and payments on newly acquired plots of land. Fees and fines deal majority with market tolls, slaughter-house operations, operations of lorry parks and Motor Unions (GPRTU) and a few others of lesser magnitude. Licences basically centre on individual businesses’ licences procurement, which give them a legal district backing for their operations. 

Incomes from investments are dividend payments on the Assembly’s holdings in stocks and interest payments on the Municipality Assembly’s Common Fund. Incomes from trading services are pooled by the operations of the Assembly’s farms, tractor, tipper and water tanker services. Miscellaneous incomes are those that come from charcoal exports, lotto operations and any other sources of revenue that cannot be easily classified under the broad heads mentioned above.

Proportion of Municipality Assembly Revenue from Local Sources

If a consideration is taken of all inflows of funds into the Municipality as revenues to the District, table 1.9 contain the sum total of revenues and their underlying sources for the years 2004-September 2006.

Banking Facility

The main banking facilities in the Municipality include the Ghana Commercial Bank, National Investment Bank and the Kintampo Rural Bank. All these banks are located in the district capital. The Kintampo Rural Bank seem to be the only banking facility in the area according to interviewees which offers the opportunity to mobilize savings and provide credit facilities to farmers and small-scale businessmen.

Investment and Business Potentials

The Kintampo Noth Municipal has enormous opportunities for private investment and joint partnership with the public sector, predicated on the district’s extensive natural and human resources, as well as the solid infrastructure the Municipal Assembly has put in place.

In the agricultural sector, both the land and the weather are suitable for the cultivation of non-traditional crops such as pineapple, pepper, garden eggs, yam and sunflower. The cultivation of tobacco, tomatoes, maize, cassava and cashew is also very suitable and is being actively encouraged.Farming employs about 70.3% of the Municipal active labour force,and it is mostly subsistence in nature. Altogether, about 90% of the population derive their income from agriculture-related activities. Major food crops produced are maize, yam, cassava and vegetables. Cattle, goats, sheep, pigs and poultry are also reared on a large-scale. In fact, there is a national goat-breeding centre at Kintampo.

Industrial crops grown are cashew, citronella and tobacco. Indeed, the Assembly’s industrial sector employs 8.6% of the labour force, with British American Tobacco (BAT) being the large-scale industry in the municipality. BAT is engaged in the cultivation of tobacco and agro-forestry plantation. Other industrial operations are in wood, textile and agro-processing.

The Municipal is also endowed with clay deposits at Agyinateng for brick and tile works. About 16.1% of the labour force can be found in the service sector. They include teachers, nurses, administrators, financial and non-financial institutions and other civil and public servants.

Hotel business is very lucrative and attractive due to the strategic position of the Municipal, especially the capital, Kintampo. Travellers to and from the north usually make a stopover a Kintampo before continuing their journey.