Introduction

Agriculture plays an important role in the socio-economic development of Akatsi North District. The key agricultural sub-sectors include crops, livestock, fisheries, agro forestry and non-traditional commodities. This chapter presents data on agricultural activities in the district, focusing on households in agriculture and types of farming.

Agricultural Households

An agricultural household is where at least one of the members is engaged in agricultural production for sale or household consumption. Figure 7.1 shows agricultural households in the district and activities they are engaged in. A total of 6,712 households representing 83.9 percent are engaged in farming activities. Of the agricultural households, 6,584 or 98.1 percent are into crop farming and 2,423 (36.1%) are into rearing of livestock. Only 111 (1.7%) and 3 households report that they are engaged in tree planting and fish farming respectively.

Livestock rearing and keepers

Table 7.2 shows types of animals and numbers reared, number of keepers and average number of livestock per keeper in the district. Majority (61.3%) of the animals reared are chicken, followed by goats (15.9%), cattle (9.0%) and sheep (8.4%).