Structure of the Local Economy

The local economy can be structured in terms of the number of people engaged in the various sectors of agriculture, commerce, service and manufacturing (industry). A survey conducted revealed that the agricultural sector employs over 60 percent of the active population, commerce 18 percent, manufacturing (industry) 10 percent and service about 5 percent.

Employment Situation in the District

A survey conducted revealed that over 80 percent of both males and females in the district are employed in one form or another. The proportion of the population not employed in about 14 percent. {See table 1.15}

The proportion of females in home making, unemployed and others put together is about 10 percent as against about 4 percent for men. This calls for serious measures to curb down the rate of unemployment among both females and males in the district.

 Poverty and Income Levels in the District

A socio-economic survey conducted in the district revealed that the average income is 01,625,500.00 per annum as against 01,553,096.00 per annum in 2002. (see table 1.16)

 Livestock

Various livestock are reared in the district and these include cattle, sheep, goat, poultry, pig, grass-cutter and snail.  The table below illustrates livestock population in the district from 2002 - 2005.

 From the survey 47 percent of the total population earn below the average income of 01,625,500.00, whilst about 24 percent of the population fall within the average income bracket of (61,501,000.00 - (41,750,000.00. It is also revealed that 29 percent of the population earn more than the average income as indicated in the table. With more than 40 percent of the people earning less than the average income, is an indication that a greater number of the population are poor. This calls for the implementation of policies and programmes that will help the people to create wealth, reduce poverty and improve their standard of living.

 Wealth Creation Programmes

The District development goal for the plan period is increasing the size of the local economy in terms of real production and improving the income level of the average citizen in the district to at least $700. However, the poverty and income level analysis in the district has indicated that over 40 percent of the people in the district earn less than the average income of 01,625,500 (which is equivalent to $180.62). For the Assembly to achieve the target income level of $700, reduce poverty among the people as well as improve their standard of living, the Assembly has embarked on wealth creation programmes for the plan period.

 The programmes include:

1. Cultivation and production of soya beans and jathropha for export: In June 2006, the Assembly acquired 200 acres of land at Dagomba, near Drobonso for the cultivation of soya beans. The land has been cleared, ploughed, harrowed and allocated to farmer groups to plant the soya beans. Some facilities for accommodation, water and sanitation as well as warehouses have been provided at the site for the farmers.

 The beans when harvested in December 2006, would be bought and exported. In the case of jathropha, the district has been selected as one of the pilot districts to cultivate the plant. People in the area have been informed about the venture and as many people that show interest in the production of the jathropha plant will receive the needed assistance and push from the Assembly. From 2007 going over 1000 acres of land would be acquired for the soya beans farmers to produce more of the beans for export.

 2. National Youth Employment Programme: Under the programme the Assembly will recruit and sponsor over one thousand youth. Currently over one hundred Rural Education Volunteers have been recruited and posted to some parts of the district, where some trained teachers have refused to go and teach. Also about one hundred auxiliary nurses would be recruited, trained and posted to work in some rural health facilities in the district.

 These moves by the Assembly are meant to put the youth in employment and to reduce poverty among the youth. In the same vein, an amount of about two hundred million cedis (0200,000,000) has been distributed to vegetable farmers in the district to cultivate and produce short season crops like tomatoes, okro, garden-eggs, onion, pepper etc. In the early part of 2007, farmers would be given credit to cultivate and produce crops like oil palm, maize, rice, cassava soya beans, vegetables etc. under the Youth Employment Programme.

 3. The Millennium Challenge Account (MCA): Sekyere East is one of the beneficiary districts of this account. Under the MCA, some farmer based organizations in some selected communities in the Afram Plains portion of the district and other communities in  the southern part will be assisted with credit to undertake the production of crops for the next five years.

 4. As from 2007, the Assembly, in collaboration with the Business Advisory Unit (BAU) of the Assembly and Sinapi Aba Trust (SAT) would engage the youth in an apprenticeship training programmes to develop and sharpen the skill of the youth in the district. Graduates from the training would be assisted to start their undergo training in dress-making, carpentry, tailoring, hairdressing, grass-cutter rearing, catering, painting etc. With these programmes in place, it is expected that much wealth would be created by the people, their income levels would rise, poverty would reduce in the district, and the standard of living of the people would improve as the $700 target income level set is achieved.

 The Local Economic Development (LED)

The Local Economic Development (LED) is a process by which public, business and non¬governmental sector partners work collectively to create better economic conditions for economic growth and employment generation with the aim to improve the quality of life for all. LED is thus a partnership between local government, business and community interests.

 The Sekyere East District has been selected as one of the pilot Districts to benefit from LED Programmes, and since 2006, the Assembly in partnership with the German Technical Co-operation (GTZ) have provided an impetus to the Wealth Creation Programmes of the Assembly by zoning the District into three functional areas - Agriculture (Afram Plains Area), Industrial (Effiduase/Asokore Area) and Business (Kumawu Area), based on the predominant economic activities prevailing in these areas.

 To enhance wealth creation in these areas the following projects have been formulated and these include;

1.    Improving the provision of storage facilities

2.    Improving the capacity of the Business Advisory Centre (BAC) of the Assembly to provide services for the Business Community and

3.    Strengthening of Business Associations as service providers.

To facilitate the implementation of these proposals, action plans have been designed.

Major Economic Activities

The major economic activities in the district are farming, small-scale processing of agricultural produce and trades like hair dressing, tailoring, carpentry, services and others.

 Farming

Over 60 percent of the total population in the district is engaged in agricultural production. Both food and cash crops are cultivated by the farmers in the district. The structure of agriculture in. the district is peasant in nature and the farmers rely on traditional labour intensive method of production. Poultry and livestock production is done on small scale under free range system.

 Agricultural Extension

The agricultural sector over sees fourteen operational areas which are all located in the South-West of the district. The sector also assists and trains 40 percent and 60 percent of the male and female agricultural population respectively in current farming techniques. Between 2004 and 2005, the number of farms visited increased from 2106 to 3212 with a corresponding increase in the number of farmers trained from 8,212 to 11273. (See table 1.17).

The extension training services covered techniques such as no filling of land, row planting methods, fertilizer application, correct spacing, number of seed per till, timely weeding, improved seeds and mode of weedicide application. (See table 1.18)

 Over the four year period under consideration, the population of the various livestock has increased tremendously. Notable among them are the snail and cattle population. Again, it is interesting to note that about 65 percent of the livestock population is found in the north of the district (Afram Plains) where there are vast grazing lands.

 It is however regrettable that majority of these livestock are marketed outside the district in neighbouring districts such as Sekyere West, Asante Akim North, Kwahu North, Sene, Afram Plains District and others as a result of transportation problem. The sizes of the livestock that are actually marketed within the District are indicated in the (table 1.20) below in (kilograms) for the 2004 and 2005.

From the table it could be realized that apart from pork production which decreased from 125,20Qkg to 50,400kg, cattle and sheep production increased more than 50 percent in 2005.

 Crop Production

Principally, the major tree crops in the District are cocoa, citrus and oil palm. Other root and tuber crops cultivated are yam, cassava, cocoyam etc. Cereals cultivated are mainly maize and rice. (See Table 1.21).

Increased crop production  levels over the period was made possible due to farm demonstration activities by the directorate (See Table 1.22).

 Cocoa Spraying:

The extension officers have also not neglected cocoa as an important cash crop in the district. Through the cocoa spraying exercise, large hectares of cocoa farms have been covered. (See table 1.23).

 On cocoa, the hitech activities over the period were impressive. A total of 2,073 farmers were involved, and a total of 1,725 hectares of land (farms) was covered.

 Post Harvest Losses

The agricultural sector in the district is confronted with a number of problems, including post harvest losses. Post harvest losses in the district are mainly caused by poor transportation network and lack of storage facilities. (See table 1.24). The resultant effect is that the farmers are heavily affected in terms of revenue loss.

 From the table, it may be noted that maize, rice and citrus have the highest percentage post harvest loss of 30 percent, 10 percent and 10 percent respectively.

 Commerce

Retail trading is another economic activity in the district. The survey revealed that about 18 percent of the total population is engaged in commercial activities in the district. The traders deal in a wide range of goods, including both imported and made-in-Ghana goods, second hand clothes and footwear.

 Services

The service sector in the district also provides over five percent of the total population with employment. There are over four hotels operating in the district. The most popular one is the Nyarko-Sefa Hotel, located along the Effiduase - Oyoko road. Traditional caterers, and restaurants, drinking bars and communication centres as well as petrol dumps also abound in the district. In terms of postal services, Effiduase, Kumawu, Asokore and Oyoko have access to post offices. Also telephone services are available at Effiduase, Kumawu, Oyoko, Dadease, Asokore and Bodomase. Ghana Telecom (GT) provides cellular mobile phone service in the district.

 Financial services are provided by two rural banks, namely Asokore and Kumawu respectively. These banks have agencies located at Effiduase and Bodomase. There is one commercial bank located at Effiduase which also serve the populace in the district. Other economic activities undertaken by the people are tailoring, dress-making, hairdressing, carpentry and blacksmithing.

 Services

The service sector in the district also provides over five percent of the total population with employment. There are over four hotels operating in the district. The most popular one is the Nyarko-Sefa Hotel, located along the Effiduase - Oyoko road. Traditional caterers, and restaurants, drinking bars and communication centres as well as petrol dumps also abound in the district. In terms of postal services, Effiduase, Kumawu, Asokore and Oyoko have access to post offices. Also telephone services are available at Effiduase, Kumawu, Oyoko, Dadease, Asokore and Bodomase. Ghana Telecom (GT) provides cellular mobile phone service in the district.

 Financial services are provided by two rural banks, namely Asokore and Kumawu respectively. These banks have agencies located at Effiduase and Bodomase. There is one commercial bank located at Effiduase which also serve the populace in the district. Other economic activities undertaken by the people are tailoring, dress-making, hairdressing, carpentry and blacksmithing.

 District Assembly Revenue Analysis

The major sources of income to the Assembly are internally generated fund (IGF) and government grants. The internally generated fund is made up of rates, land, fees and fines, licenses, rents, investment and miscellaneous. The contribution of both government grants and IGF over the period is shown in table 1.25.

 Since 2002, the single major source of revenue to the Assembly has been from government grants which have increased from 95 percent in 2004 to 97 percent in 2005. The implication is that without government grants the Assembly cannot develop or undertake any meaningful development in the district. The bar graph (figure 3) shows the proportion of each source of revenue to the Assembly.

 Internally Generated Fund, 2002 - 2005

Internally generated fund obtained in 2002 accounted for only 14 percent of the total revenue generated within the four years. It was in the year 2004 that the highest revenue of 42 percent was obtained over the four year period. (See table 1.26).

 Also over the same period, revenue contributions from investment was 2.4 percent, rates 17 percent, lands 28.3 percent. Fees and fines 32.6 percent and licenses 5.9 percent to the total revenue generated within the four years.

 Government Grants

From 2002 up to 2005 the district received a total sum of £56,866,199,050 in grant to undertake development programmes and projects. The grants were in the form of District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) for the Assembly and MPs, HIPC Fund, Community Water and Sanitation Programme 11, PRODICAP, QUIPS, Cocoa Spraying disease and VIP. (See table 1.28)

 Expenditure

The total Government grant of £56,866,199,050 was spent on priority programmes and projects under the thematic areas of the GPRS 1. (See table 1.29). Out of the total grant of £56,866,199,050 received by the Assembly between 2002 and 2005, a total of 055,214,852,294.14 was spent on programmes and projects.

 Prudent Fiscal Management

Apart from the need to identify other sources of revenue generation in the district and the need to take further control measures to improve the finances of the Assembly, and even more important aspect of financial arrangement is the management of the resources of the Assembly.

 Revenue mobilization and its management constitute a core problem area in the district. The limited resources available to the district in the face of numerous demands for development and functions of the Assembly require judicious use of resources of the Assembly and the institution of prudent control mechanisms in order to avoid waste in the system. To this end;

All funds collected must be fully accounted for and on time too.

There should be judicious use of funds and for the purpose for which they are appropriated. Expenditures must be made as authorized.

Monthly financial statements (Trial Balance) must be prepared and issued on time.

There must be close supervision and inspection of transactions to ensure prompt processing of payment vouchers as well as checking embezzlement of Assembly funds.

Assembly officials and Assembly members must be honest and accountable to the populace.

The Assembly must set its priorities right and make judicious use of resources by preparing procurement and cash flow plans for the implementation of programmes and projects.

The Assembly must invest in productive ventures that will help raise the living conditions of the people in the district.

Apart from grants, the Assembly has not been able to generate enough revenue from its own resources for any meaningful development programmes and projects. This may partly be due to inadequate trained and regular revenue collectors in the district.

 Investment And Business Potential

It has plenty of economic potential and opportunities for investment and joint ventureship. The district is close to the Kumasi metropolis, the second largest city in Ghana and a prime industrial and commercial centre. The district has great potential in the agricultural sector.

It has rich soil and different ecological characteristics that are conducive for the cultivation of a variety of crops. Studies have shown that the cultivation of non-traditional crops such as pineapple, ginger, black pepper and mushroom is suitable in the district. The cultivation of vegetables like tomatoes, pepper and onions is also common in the district.

Favourable soil and climate conditions also exist for a variety of cash crops, such as cocoa, shea butter, coffee, cashew, oil palm and cola. The establishment of woodlots in the district, such as teak, is also common. Meanwhile, studies have also proven that grapes can thrive well in the Kumawu area of the district.

The district is well noted for the cultivation of cereals like yam, rice, maize, agushie, plantain, cassava, cocoyam and sweet potatoes. Another important crop is citrus, which grows well in most part of the district. Although farming activities are hampered by problems such as poor roads in some parts of the district, inadequate access to extension services and credit facilities, private investors can enjoy several peculiar advantages in Sekyere East District.

These include proximity to Kumasi, favourable weather and rich soils. Indeed, the district’s close proximity to Kumasi provides opportunities in agro-processing of oil palm. There is a huge market for processed food at Kumasi, right next to the Sekyere East District.

The availability of such facilities as electricity and telecommunications allows for modern technology to be applied to agro-processing with a view to maximizing the production of value-added.