Food Security

Agriculture is the main backbone of the economy. It employs 64.4% of the total active force in the Municipal. The Municipal lies in the heart of the forest zone and has vast track of arable lands with two rainfall patterns. The Municipal predominantly depends on agriculture for its major sources of income, employment and food supply to other parts of the country.

Several households are involved in multiple farming

activities. Of the total number of households engaged in agriculture, majority (97.8%) are into crop farming and 33.7 percent are engaged in livestock rearing. The rest of the farming activities, namely tree planting and fish farming engage less than five percent of the households in agriculture. Crop farming is the dominant agricultural activity undertaken by both urban (97.7%) and rural (98.0%) agricultural households. Agricultural households in the rural areas (44.4%) are twice likely than their counterparts in the urban areas (21.8%) to rear livestock. Tree planting and fish farming are not popular agricultural activities among farmers in the Municipal.

The major food crops grown in the Municipal are maize, cassava, plantain, cocoyam and yam. Some of the cash crops cultivated include cocoa, coffee, oil palm and citrus. Vegetables such as tomatoes, garden eggs, pepper, and okro are also grown in large quantities during the dry season. The table below shows production of major food crop in the Municipal.

There has been marginal increase in productivity due to the challenge in financing inputs as well as putting in place basic infrastructure such as irrigation, mechanisation, storage facilities and distribution systems. The Municipal enjoys adequate food security in terms of quality, quantity and affordability in all facet of the society. Food availability has been good throughout the year and with the rolling out of Planting for Food and Jobs initiative the forecast is that the Municipal will experience increased foods and jobs in the Municipal at relatively lower prices.

Accessibility to Market, Storage and Processing Facilities

Input outlets and sale points are located at Duayaw Nkwanta, Afrisipakrom, Tanoso, Bomaa and Adrobaa. They are mainly crop input sale points. There is easy access to the major markets in the Municipal in terms of food but the Municipal lack proper storage facilities and processing facilities. Some farmers store their produce in barns and cribs for few months before they are sold out. The Municipal can boast of one oil palm processing facility (8 Degrees North Company) and a few cassava processing facilities such as that of Apesika (near Bomaa).

Land Tenure System

As practiced in parts of the country, mainly stools and family control land in the Municipal. Chiefs, family head and a few individuals act as custodians of all lands. According to the people, within a family set up, land is passed on from generation to generation and a member is entitled to a portion of land which is also passed on to the next of kin.

Settler farmers may acquire land for farming activities on agreed terms. These include share cropping “Abunu” and “Abusa” system depending on the type of crop. The Abunu system is the type of farming in which a piece of land is given to a farmer and the crops shared equally between the farmer and the land owner.  The Abusa system on the other hand, is a system of farming by which land is given to a farmer for cultivation and the proceeds shared into three parts. In this case, the farmer takes two thirds and the remaining one third to the land owner. Usually, food crops are cultivated in the Abunu system while cash crops in the Abusa system.

Plant Clinic Activities

The Tano North Municipal is one of the 15 Municipals in the Brong Ahafo Region running plant clinic sessions and it is two communities: Koforidua and Buokrukruwa run once a week in each community. Plant clinic is sponsored by CABI and Plantwise in the UK and has the objective to give farmers better access to practical knowledge at local level. The National Responsible Organization (NRO) for Plantwise in Ghana is the Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate (PPRSD), MOFA.

During sessions farmers come with pest-infested and disease-infected plants or plant parts for joint or participatory diagnosis. Prescribed solutions are given and plant doctors make follow-ups to the field to bail farmers out.

Other interventions

Dry spells followed by rains has led to the outbreak of Fall Army Worms (FAW) which is devastating maize fields particularly improved varieties such as Pioneer, Pannar 12 and OPV (open pollinated varieties) as well as other local varieties of maize. The army worm has also attacked other crops such as Cocoa, Cashew, Tomato and Coffee in the Municipal.

Maize is the most affected crop, despite controlling through spraying with insecticides such as Cymethoate, Cyperderm and other systemic insecticides by farmers has been fruitless. The caterpillars which hatched out of eggs laid by adult moths rolled maize leaves and hid in sheath leaves could hardly be targeted for any effective control. The Municipal has taken delivery of 36 litres of Confidor, 24 litres of Super Top and 100 sachets of Bypel to start to control the worm in the short term. The Municipal has also formed 29 gangs in all the Operational Areas to start with the chemical spraying. The chemicals are woefully inadequate as the level of infestation is over 960 hectares. The total gang membership is 245.

The Municipal Directorate embraced the new initiative of Planting for Food and Jobs Campaign with all the seriousness that it deserves as AEAs were tasked to register progressive farmers for the programme. The Municipal registered 230 farmers and 3 out grower schemes cultivating 1,510 hectares of Maize, Rice and various vegetables like Tomato, Garden eggs, pepper and cabbage.

Registered farmers for the PFJ programme have all been visited by the AEAs across the entire Operational Areas to ascertain the extent of their preparation and are now being supplied with the inputs under the programme. The Office has received 2,149 bags of NPK, 1051 bags of Urea, 2.4 tons of OPV Sanzal-sima maize seed, 1 ton of Pannar 12 hybrid maize seed and 184 bags of seed rice (50kg) for the PFJ campaign programme.

Challenges

• Understaffing situation (1 AEA : 3,000 farmers)

• No vehicle for monitoring activities

• Absence of veterinary clinic does not augur well for meaningful veterinary service delivery.

• No weather station to allow reliable weather situation reporting.

• No funds to run office and to support field staff to work at the operational area level.

• Inadequate office equipment

• No residential accommodation for DoA staff.

• The outbreak of Fall Army Worm is affecting Agriculture negatively.