Vegetation and Forest Reserves

The Kwahu West Municipal lies within the semi-deciduous forest zone, which belongs to the Antiaris-Chlorphora association. The vegetation is dense and consists of major economic trees such as Odum, Wawa and Sapele.

The forest is made up of three layers with most of the trees in the upper and middle layers exhibiting deciduous characteristics during the dry season, which starts in November and ends in March. Unfortunately, few of the virgin forests in the district remain today due to the negative effects of human activities such as timber extraction, farming and bush fire. Most forest areas have been replaced by secondary bush or forest, which is easily distinguished from the climatic climax vegetation.

There are three forest reserves in the district with the southern scarp forest reserve, which covers an area of 15460 hectares being the largest. Others include: the Kade Bebo, Nkawanda. The table below shows the various forest reserves in the district.

(iii Soils and Agricultural Land use

Soils in the district belong to a category called Forest Ochresols and consist of clay loamy soils. These are sub-divided into various groups comprising, fine sand loams, clay loams, concretional loams, non-gravel sandy clay loams, sandy loams and iron pan soils.

These soils posses the good chemical properties of clay and appreciable amounts of humus making them generally fertile and a great potential for cash and food crop production. Each of these soils has its peculiar characteristics and the type of crops as shown in Table 1.4.

(iv) Mineral Resources

A number of essential minerals have been identified in the Kwahu West District which could be harnessed to support the development interventions of the assembly. The mineral deposits include gold, diamond, and Granite stone, clay and sand deposits. The Table below provides the location of these resources.

(v) Water Resources

The Kwahu West Municipal has very rich groundwater resources. These could be developed for water supply purposes, particularly in the rural communities, which are not served by pipe-borne water. Even though most are not perennial, a number of springs are found in the district. Apart from being of geographical importance, these springs could be further investigated for possible exploitation to provide raw materials for the production of mineral water.

(vi) Land Tenure System

Land in the Municipality is owned by chiefs, clan or family heads who hold them in trust for their subjects. However, land could also be acquired through direct purchase, rented, leasehold and share cropping (nnoboa). The fact that these parcels of land could be inherited through parents or grandparents has led to a lot of sale and resale of land with its attendant land litigations and chieftaincy disputes. This situation has also contributed to the rapid loss of farm lands with its attendant unemployment and subsequent migration to the urban areas.