Introduction

Agriculture remains the backbone of the Ghanaian economy for many years now and the sector contributes about one-third (35.6%) to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The situation is not different from what pertains in the Pusiga District. The economy of the District is mainly agrarian with a greater proportion of the people engaged in the cultivation of food crops such as onion, maize, tomatoes, water melon and beans, while others are engaged in livestock rearing.

 
Households in Agriculture

Table 7.1 shows households by agricultural activities and locality. From the Table, 90.8 percent of households are engaged in agriculture, while 9.2 percent are not engaged in any agricultural activities. More households in rural areas (91.9%) are engaged in agriculture than in urban areas (86.9%).

Types of Farming Activities

Out of the total households engaged in agriculture, 98.6 percent are engaged in crop farming. This pattern is so for both the rural and urban areas of the district. Also, 76.7 percent of agricultural households are into livestock rearing. Similarly, equal proportions are engaged in livestock rearing in both urban and rural areas of the district. Tree planting and fish farming are not common with agricultural households in the district. (Refer to Table 7.1)

Types of Livestock and Other Animals Reared

Livestock rearing is the second highest agricultural activity in Pusiga District (Table 7.1). There are 190,811 animals kept in the District with 14,010 keepers as shown by Table 7.2. The table further illustrates that on the average, each keeper is taking care of 14 livestock.

Farmers in the District are engaged in keeping more chicken than any other particular type of livestock. Farmers in the District keep more chickens (36.2%) than any other animals. The rearing of livestock such as guinea fowl, goat, sheep and cattle is about the same proportions in District.

The high numbers kept particularly livestock, can however be attributed to the 48 reason that farmers in the District practice the fee range system of farming which is favourable and conducive for such livestock.
Although, there are more keepers of chicken (36.2%) than any other livestock, the average chicken per keeper is still the highest (23).