Introduction

Ghana as a nation is rich in agriculture and the bulk of the nation’s wealth has always been linked to the agriculture sector. Cocoa and Timber until recently have been the main foreign exchange earner. The contribution of agriculture to foreign exchange earnings averaged 45 percent in the 1990s but dropped to 40 percent in the 2000s (ISSER, 2000, 2011). However, agricultural activities are not very common in the Greater Accra Region because it is predominantly urban.

This chapter analyzes demographic and other characteristics of agricultural households and the types of farming activities that are undertaken in the Accra Metropolitan Area. An agricultural household is one that engages generally in agricultural activities or if at least one of its members engages in agricultural activities, even if not earning from it. The 2010 PHC asked questions on the following agricultural activities; crop farming, tree growing, livestock rearing and fish farming, engaged in by any member of a household.

Households in Agriculture

Table 7.1 shows that 3.2 percent of the total households were engaged in agriculture in the Metropolis which is lower than the region (4.4%).Table 7.1 further indicates that more households were engaged in crop farming (77.7%) followed by livestock rearing (23.5%), tree planting (11.4%) and fish farming (0.7%).

Figure 7.1 shows that crop farming and livestock rearing were the dominant household agriculture activities in the Metropolis constituting 77.7 percent and 23.5 percent respectively. The least agricultural activity was fish farming (0.7%).

Types of livestock and other animals reared

Table 7.2 shows the distribution of livestock and keepers in the Accra Metropolis. The results show that chicken (49.1%) was the main livestock in the Metropolis followed by goats (16.0%). Thirty percent were chicken keepers with an average of 88 per keeper but the highest average per keeper was among snail keepers (326). Silk worm, inland fishing and marine fishing are not kept in the Metropolis.