Key Development Problems in the Agricultural Sector in spite of the contribution of Agriculture to the Local Economic Development (LED) are:

Inadequate land for large scale production

Over-dependence on rain-fed agriculture

Inadequate extension services

Inadequate logistics for Extension Staff at post

High illiteracy rate among farmers leading to misuse of Agricultural Chemicals on vegetables which are injurious to human health

Inadequate access to micro-credit schemes for farmers Farmer’s unwillingness to payback for loans granted them which are to serve as a revolving fund hence depriving others to access such funds.

To address these problems and make agriculture the hub of the District economy, the following   policy interventions would be taken:

• In collaboration with the traditional authorities, land banks would be created and set aside for prospective youth interested in large scale farming.

• To reduce over dependence on rain fed agriculture, and encourage the construction of small scale irrigation dams within the District, a number of hand-dug wells have been constructed to serve as a source of water for irrigation. Other irrigation equipment such as pumping machines would be provided to facilitate all year round agriculture.

In addition to this, the number of Extension Officers would be increased and resourced with logistics to enable them perform efficiently and effectively

Key Development Issues/Problems Relating to Tourism

• Undeveloped tourist sites

Most of the tourist sites identified have not been developed. This is mainly due to failure to attract Private Sector involvement in the development. It would therefore be necessary that the enabling environment be created to make the sub-sector attractive for private investors. Hence, the Assembly would provide the needed infrastructure like good roads and electricity to facilitate safe and effective transportation for tourist and investors.

• Poor road network to tourist sites

The nature of some roads do not make it attractive for tourists to visit the tourist sites. Poor roads especially feeder roads leading to rural areas are quite unpleasant to ply during some seasons of the year. It therefore defeats the purpose of visiting a place as a tourist. Roads with deep gullies during the rainy season and huge dust during the dry season do not attract people to ply on them just for tourism purposes as it is their safety that is paramount.

• Inadequate tourism infrastructure

Adequate tourism infrastructure has not been provided to make tourism attractive to locals and the outside world.

Key Development Problems

• Difficulty in accessing the facility due to distance

• Poor maintenance culture of water facilities

• Inability of the community to pay the matching fund

• Ineffective WATSANS and Water Boards

Summary of key development issues

The key development issues were obtained through the community needs and aspirations.

It was done through a meeting with assembly members, town and area council members and all stakeholders, review of the performance of the DMTDP 2014 - 2017, situational analysis reflecting the spatial dimension of development, the profile and other interventions. Below is a table depicting the summary of key development issues.