Introduction

Agriculture is the main stay of the District’s economy which is mainly rural. It employs a relatively higher proportion of households in the District. The key agricultural activities include crop farming, livestock hearing, fish farming and agro-forestry. The land is suitable for the production of various crops such as maize, rice, vegetables, yam, plantain, cassava and cocoa. 

Households in agriculture

The District recorded a total of 80.4 percent agricultural households as of 2010. The proportions of urban households engaged in agricultural activities are 68 percent compared to 86.6 percent of the rural households. The high proportion of agricultural households in rural areas is basically due to the fact that agriculture is essentially a rural activity.

Types of farming activities

Four types of agricultural activities considered during the 2010 PHC are as follows: crop farming, tree growing, livestock rearing and fish farming. The highest proportion of farming households are engaged in crop farming (99.0%), while the least proportion of households are into tree planting (0.5%). More than 9 in 10 rural households (99.3%) are engaged in crop farming compared to almost the same proportion of urban households (98.1%).

Types of Livestock

Other Animals and Keepers Livestock rearing is the second most important agricultural activity after crop farming.  The 2010 census counted a total of 83,432 livestock of different species in the District. Out of this number, there are 4,299 keepers and an average of 19 livestock per keeper. Among the ruminants, the top three are 23 percent with 33.1 percent of keepers for goats, 9.4 percent of sheep with 14.5 percent of keepers and 2.8 percent of cattle with 1.8 percent of keepers. The average animal per keeper for goat, sheep and cattle are 14, 12 and 31 respectively. In addition, there is approximately 53.1 percent of chicken being reared by 39.5 percent of persons, 2.6 percent of guinea fowls being reared by 2.6 percent of persons, 0.8 percent of ducks being reared by 1.2 percent of keepers.