Introduction

Agriculture has for many decades dominated the economy of the country and contributed more than one-third of gross domestic product (GSS, 2012). The sector’s contribution to GDP also declined from over 40.0 percent in the 1990s to 30.0 percent in the 2000s (ISSER, 2011).

The economy of the Wa West District is mainly agrarian, with 91.6 percent of households engaged in the cultivation of food crops (grains such as millet, sorghum and maize; roots and tubers, particularly yams, and legumes, including groundnuts and beans) (see Table 7.1). Households in the region are also actively engaged in rearing livestock, including cattle and ruminants.

Households in Agriculture

The population of agricultural households in 2010 for the District was 10,524 which accounted for 91.6 percent of the total household of 11,486. For the census, an agricultural household was defined as households with at least, one person engaged in any type of agricultural activity, namely crop farming, tree growing, livestock rearing and fish farming (GSS, 2012).

The definition then identified households in which various agricultural activities were undertaken. Figure 7.1 shows households by agricultural activities. The data show that the District has a total household of 11,486 with a high proportion (91.6%) engaged in agriculture. Among the population engaged in agriculture, 97.2 percent are into crop farming, followed by livestock rearing (69.5%), with only 1.2 percent and 0.1 percent in tree planting and fish farming respectively.

The figure shows that, Wa West District is wholly rural area and has a high proportion of agriculture households. This is basically due to the fact that agriculture is essentially a rural activity.

Wa West economy is typically agrarian with more than 90.0percent of the economically active population working in that sector. The data show that the District has a total household of 11,486 with a high proportion (91.6%) engaged in agricultural activities.

The farming activities (in Table 7.1)are crop farming (97.2%), tree planting (1.2%), livestock rearing (69.5%) and fish farming (0.1%). Tree planting and fish farming are not common agriculture activities among agricultural households in the District.

Table 7.3 shows the distribution of livestock and keepers. The four most dominant livestock reared are chicken, goats, sheep, and cattle. Cattle farming haven average of 17.1 animals per keeper with goats and sheep having an average of 13.0 and13.1 animals per keeper respectively. Chicken has an average animal per keeper of 18.3. However, the least reared animal is turkey with an average of 8.0 birds per keeper.

The Table further indicates that goat rearing (34.1%) is dominant in the District, followed by chicken (27.5%) and sheep rearing (11.6%). The least reared animal is grass-cutter with 0.3 percent.

Goats, guinea fowl and sheep have proportions of 29.4 percent, 10.9 percent and 10.0 percent animals respectively, with the percentages of keepers as 34.0 percent, 8.9 percent and 11.6 percent respectively.

It is important to note that snails and fish farming are not practiced in the District. Interestingly, even though chicken in the District out number that of goats, goat keepers (34.0%) out number chicken keepers (27.5%).