Asuogyaman

 

DISTRICT PROFILE

Introduction

Asuogyaman District was created under local government instrument LI 1431 of 1988 as a result of Ghana Government re-demarcation exercise carried out to operationalize decentralization programme in the country from the defunct Kaoga District, which had Somanya as the capital

The Asuogyaman District has been divided into six Area Councils in line with the provisions of the Local Government Act, 467(1993).  They are Anum, Boso, Frankadua/Apeguso, Atimpoku, Gyakiti and Akosombo. The district is made up of one constituency with 35 electoral areas with their corresponding unit committees.

Political Administration

The Asuogyaman District Assembly (ADA) is the highest political authority in the district with the power to exercise a wide range of legislative and executive functions.  The structure of the Assembly corresponds with guidelines as prescribed by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.

The District Chief Executive (DCE) serves as the political and the District Coordinating Director (DCD) as the administrative head.

Physical features

Location and Size

The Asuogyaman District is located approximately between latitudes 6º 34º N and 6º 10º N and longitudes 0º 1º W and 0º14E.  It is about 120m above Mean Sea Level (MSL).  It covers a total estimated surface area of 1,507 sq. km, constituting 5.7 percent of the total area of the Eastern Region.

Afram Plains South District borders the district to the north and the Upper and Lower Manya districts to the south and west.  Asuogyaman is a traditional district situated between the Volta and Eastern Regions and they share borders to the east with Kpando, North Dayi, Ho and the North Tongu Districts of the Volta Region.

The topography of the district is generally undulating. It is mountainous and interspersed with low lying plains to the west and the east. The Volta River cuts through such ridges to create a gorge ideal for the construction of the Volta Dam at Akosombo.  On the average, the highest of the peaks in the District ranges between 700 – 800m above sea level.

 

Climate

The Asuogyaman District lies within the Dry Equatorial Climate Zone, which experiences substantial amount of precipitation.  This is characterized by a double maxima rainfall, which reaches its peak period in May – July, and the minor season occurs in the period of September – November.  Annual rainfall usually starts in April with the peak month in June and ends in November.  The dry season sets in November – December and ends inMarch.  The annual rainfall is between 67m and 1130mm; temperatures are warm throughout the year with maximum monthly mean of 37.2ºC and a minimum of 21.0ºC.  Relative humidity is generally high ranging from the highest of 98% in June to 31% in January.

Figure 1.1: Map of Asuogyaman

 

Figure 1.2: Map of Asuogyaman in Regional Context

Cultural and Social Structure

The name Asuogyaman is an Akan word which comes from the fusion of ‘Asegya’ and ‘Oman’ which literally means ‘river bank state’.  This is because all the major towns in the district namely, Akosombo, Atimpoku, Gyakiti, Senchi, New Akrade, Akwamufie, Anum, Boso etc. are located on either banks of the Volta Lake.

There are three traditional councils in the District; Boso, Anum and Akwamus.  The festival and culture of the three traditional areas are unique and needs to be preserved and developed as tourist attractions.

The district is a seat of important national infrastructure and architectural landmarks which includes hydroelectric dam, the Suspension Bridge over the Volta at Adomi, inland port at Akosombo which facilitates transportation of goods and people to and from Akosombo and the northern regions of the country, the petroleum depot located at Adomi and Natural landscape for the development of tourism

 

1.4.1 Ethnicity and Religion

The population of the District according to the survey is heterogeneous.  The predominant tribes are Ewe(45.8%),Ga-Adangbe(28.1%) and Akan (11.6%). Other tribes constitute the remaining portion of the population.

Christianity is the dominant religion in the District (89%), followed by Islamic (3.7%) and Traditionalist (2.4%) respectively. There also exist other religions and people with no religion constituting 4.9% of the Population.

 

Economy

Agriculture

Agriculture is the major economic activity in terms of employment and rural income generation in the District.  About 75 per cent of the working population are engaged in this sector which constitutes the main source of household income in the district. There are three (3) prominent types of farming activities in the District. These are livestock farming, food cropping and cash cropping. The most predominant of these is food cropping more than 78 percent of the farmers in the District taking to this type. Livestock farming is carried out on a limited scale employing only about 8 per cent of farmers whiles cash cropping also employs just about 12 per cent of the farming population.

The major food Crops produced in the District is maize, cassava, plantain, yam and vegetable.  A large number of these farmers have smallholdings. Most of the farmers engaged in crop farming are also involved in livestock rearing. The main system of farming is bush fallowing and inter-cropping. The main farming areas are Tortibo, Domeabra, Mpakadan, Frankadua, Fintey, Gyakiti, Ankyease and Survey line. There are large track of Land for commercial farming and other Agro Business in these areas. Currently Bio Exotica Company has taken advantage of this opportunity to produce pineapple on large scale.

The main types of livestock reared in the District are cattle, goats, sheep, poultry and pigs. The table below indicates the predominant animal reared in the District together with the most prevalent diseases that occur amongst these livestock. Most of the livestock farming that goes on the district is on subsistence levels. Also there are two kraals at Asikuma and Nkwakaben. The main problems affecting farming in the district are Low price paid for farmers produce, Lack of funds, irregular rainfall, pest and Diseases infestation.

Fishing in the Volta Lake which constitutes an important segment of the agriculture sector is done in some communities along the 141km shoreline including parts of the Kpong headwaters. These communities include Dzidzokope, Atimpoku, Abume, Akosombo, Surveyline, Adomi, Dodi Asantekrom, Asikuma, Mpakadan and Senchi Ferry and old Akrade.

 

Industry and Commerce

Volta River Authority and Akosombo Textiles form the major industry employing a major proportion of the population. Major hotels and tourist sites (Volta Hotel, Senchi Royal Hotel, Akosombo Continental Hotel, Afrikiko River Front and Sajuna Beach Park) also contribute to the economy by attracting tourist from all parts of the world.

Atimpoku is a major commercial center due to its central location where communities in parts of volta and eastern converge. The predominant “Abollo and One Mouth Thousand” is a common commodity been trade coupled with other small to medium size commercial entities.

 

Employment by Sectors

The service sector serves as the main source of employment for the urban populace, partly as a result of the presence of major roads; Accra-Akosombo; Accra-Ho and others, which pass through the urban areas where trading and other service activities are very brisk.

Agriculture, though at subsistence in nature is the predominant occupation in the District. It employs about 37.3% of the total labour force, with the majority of them being in the rural areas. The second major employer in the District is the commerce sector which engages 16.6%.

 

Population Composition

The total population of the Asuogyaman District stands at 98,046 (47,030 males and 51016 females). 70 percent of the total population of the Asuogyaman District reside in the rural area and 30% in the urban areas making Asuogyaman District one of the rural districts in the Eastern Region.  The population of Asuogyaman represents 3.7 percent of the regional population.

 

Table 2.3: Age dependency ratio by sex

	Both Sexes			Males			Females
Age Group	Number	Percent		Number	Percent		Number	Percent
All Ages	98,046	100.0		47,030	100.0		51,016	100.0
0-14	36,621	37.4		18,532	39.4		18,089	35.5
15-64	55,752	56.9		26,190	55.7		29,562	57.9
65+	5,673	5.8		2,308	4.9		3,365	6.6
All Ages dependency ratio	75.9			79.6			72.6
Child dependency ratio	65.7			70.8			61.2
Old age dependency ratio	10.2			8.8			11.4

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010 Population and Housing Census

 

Age-sex Structure

The sex structure of the population in the district indicates that a higher percentage of males (18.9%) than females (18.4%) are in the age group 0 to 14 years.  This situation is reversed between ages 15 to 59 years. The elderly age group also had more female than males indicating a higher life expectancy of female than males at this age group.

The population of the district is largely youthful with more than half (64%) of the population below 30years. And a further broader infant age bracket of 0-14 recording 37.4 percent of the total population. This population present diverse scenarios for the future and therefore require policy attention.

Figure 2.1: Population Pyramid for Population by Sex

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010 Population and Housing Census

 

 

Religion

The dominant religious group in the Asuogyaman District is Christianity (89.1%) professing adherence to the Christian faith. Moslems form only 3.7 percent of the population. The adherents to traditional religion form (2.4%) and those who have no religion constitute 4.1 percent.13.5

 

Household Size, Structure and Composition

Almost half (47.8%) of the total household population live in the urban area whiles the remaining live in the rural area. This means that most of the households in the district live in the few urban communities in the district with the remaining distributed in the other rural communities. The average household size of the district is 5 which is in line with the regional average.

 

Household Headship

There are 23,551 households in the district. 58 percent of them are male headed and the remaining 42 percent are female headed. This is in sing with the national and regional phenomenon of household headship. All the various sizes of households have male having a higher household’s size with the exception of household with 4 members. More than 50 percent of the households have sizes from 1 to 4.

 

Household Size

.

Marital Characteristics

Information on marital status, usually classified by age and sex,  shows the extent to which people of  different ages have never married, are married (formally or consensually/living together), were formerly married (separated, widowed or divorced). Each person in any given population will fall into one of these categories at any given time.

The percentage never married males was discovered to be higher (48.7%) with females having (35.9) while the percentage of married males (38.5%) is almost the same as that of females (35.9%).  Informal consensual union is slightly higher for females (7.7%) than for males (6.4%).  Marriage separation is higher among females (2.9%) than among males (1.8%), while divorce is also higher for females (5.5%) than for males (2.8%).  The greatest disparity is in the widowhood among females (9.6%) compared with males (1.9%).

The distribution of the population aged 12 years or older by marital status within the districts is presented in Table 3.7.  The proportion never married is 41.9 with the ages 12-19 recording the highest due to their ages. Ages 25-44 recorded the highest incidence of consensual of 14 and 10.3 as the range. The ages with the highest proportion of married is ages 45-49 with 71.7 percent.

 

Nationality

Persons of Ghanaian parentage was discovered as expected, constitute the largest percentage of the population (94.6%).  Ghanaians with dual citizenship constitutes a very small percentage (3.3%). Less than 2.0 percent of the population in the District are non-Ghanaians; and Ghanaians by naturalization constitute one percent (1%).  There are higher proportion of Ghanaians of dual nationality in Asuogyaman (3.3%) as compared to the other districts.

 

Religious Affiliation

Indicationsfrom the analysis indicate that the dominant religious group in the Asuogyaman District is Christianity with Eighty-Nine (89.1%). Moslems form only 3.7 percent of the population. The adherents to traditional religion form (2.4%) and those who have no religion constitute 4.1 percent.

 

Literacy and Education

The questions on literacy in the population were on English, Ghanaian languages and French.

The literacy rates of the Eastern Region and its component districts are presented in Table 7.1. On the average, a little more than a third (35.8%) of the population in the region is not literate in any of the languages. The percentages of those who are literate in English only (11.6%) or a Ghanaian language only (11.6%) are the same.  The proportion literate in the combination of English and a Ghanaian language is far higher, exceeding 40 percent of the total population.

 

It was observed from the discussion that majority of the population 3 years and older are at the primary school level constituting approximately 47 percent of this population. There was an indication that only about 32 percent of the primary population have passed through the kindergarten and only approximately 12 percent of the primary population have passed through the nursery level. Therefore it can be seen that about 56 percent of the primary population started directly at the primary level.

 

Economic Activity Status

Table 4.1 illustrates data derived during the 2010 census concerning the employment status of the people. Analysis of data on economic activities indicates that 68.8 percent of the labour population (15-64) are economically active meaning that they were either employed or unemployed with the economically not active comprising the remaining 31.2 percent. Among this population males represent 47.2 percent whiles the females constitute 52.8 percent. The employment rate for the district is 64 percent. Female’s population have a higher employed population than the male population with 92.9 percent and 93.2 respectively. The unemployment rate for the district is 7.0 percent among the economically active population. The economically not active population has 50 percent of them under full time education.

Since school attendance is highest among those aged 15- 24 years, some persons within this age group are not yet economically active. Some of the aged may choose to be economically inactive. It must be noted that the economic activity rate among the aged (60+ years) is relatively high in the district. The age group 20- 44 years reported the highest employed status, exceeding 55 percent.

 

Occupation

The discussion on occupation indicates that there are more females (52.8%) employed in the district than their male counterpart (47.2). Service and sales, skilled agricultural forestry and fisheries and craft and related trades workers employ more than 83 percent of females employed. Majority of the employed population are skilled agricultural forestry and fisheries workers constituting 36.4 percent of the 39,332 employed population. A large percentage of these workers are males (54.8), this may be attributed to the fact that skilled agricultural forestry and fisheries is a male dominated occupation. The least of the occupations are managers forming 1.7 percent of the employed population.

 

Industry

The data on industry indicates that approximately 46 out of every 100 employed individuals aged 15 years and older are skilled agriculture, forestry and fishing industry of which 54 percent are males making this industry the major contributor to employment in the Asuogyaman district. Wholesale and retail; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles is the second industry that employs the highest population of approximately 17 percent .However, there are only 8 males out of every 100 compared to 25 females out of every 100 employed by the wholesale and retail industry. Professional scientific and technical activities as well as the Activities of extraterritorial organizations and bodies employs the least number of people.

 

Employment status

Data on employment status revealed clearly that of the 39,332 people 15 years and older who are employed, majority are self-employed without employee(s) constituting 63.2 percent, outof which females dominate with 74 percent and 51 percent males.  This is followed by employees who make up 24 percent.   Self-employed with employee(s) forms just 3 percent of the employed population. This shows that those who are self-employed and have employed other people constitute just a small percentage of the total employed population   in Asuogyaman. Domestic employee (House help) are the least with 0.4 percent.

 

Employment Sector

The employment sector as derived from the 2010 PHC data indicate that a total of 39,332 employees exist in the Asuogyaman District with private informal sector employing 78.3 percent. They include traders, craftsmanship, small businesses and SMEs. Government employs 8.3 percent of the employed population with most of them working as teachers, health workers, district assembly workers and other related government agencies.

 

Information Communication Technology

Informationon ICT looked at the population 12 years and older who have access to or owns any means of ICT such as fixed telephone lines, mobile phones, desk top computers, laptop computers and access to the internet facility. It was concluded that out of the population 12 years and older which is 68,816 in Asuogyaman District 35,088 uses mobile phones and 5,369 also uses internet facility. 14 percent of the population does not use either mobile phones or internet facility. 52% of those who use mobile phones are males whereas their female counterpart constitutes the remaining 48%. Also of the population who use the internet facility, about 7 out of every 10 persons are males whiles 3 out of every 10 persons are females. There was also an indication that there are 23,551 households having desktop/ laptop computers in Asuogyaman District, out of which 13,769 are males representing 59% and 9,782 are females also representing 41%. There are 1,131 households who have fixed telephone lines. 70% percent of households that are having the fixed telephone lines are headed by males whereas 30% of those households that are having fixed telephone lines are headed by females. There are also 2,337 households having desktop/ laptop computers, from which 75% of the households are headed by males whereas 25% of them are headed by females.

This phenomenon however shows that in the field of information communication technology, males are the dominant gender as compared to their female counterparts as far as Asuogyaman district is concerned.

Disability

 

Data on disability has been discussed and there was an indication that there are more female with disability than male. Out of the total of 2,048 in Asuogyaman District, there are 1,107 and 941 for female and male respectively. In all forms of the disabilities, there are more female than male except for speech and intellect where the population of male to female is 143:126 and 128:122 respectively.

With respect to economic activity status, there are more employed persons with disability than unemployed but less than those who are not economically active for both male and female. There are 941 males with disability, out of which 434 are employed, 24 are unemployed and 474 not economically active whereas out of 1,107 females, 472 are employed, 22 unemployed and 613 not economically active.

However, Sight and Hearing disabilities have more female who are employed, unemployed and economically inactive than male. Nevertheless disabilities such as Speech, Physical, Intellect, Emotion and more than one form of disability have more male who are employed and unemployed than female but there are more female when it comes to people who are not economically active.6.3 Type of disability

 

Out of the total population of 98,046 for Asuogyaman district, only 2,327 representing 2.4% have on form of disability or another, out of which 356 are from the urban areas whiles 1,971 are from the rural areas representing 0.4% and 2.0% respectively.

Of all the disability forms, sight has the highest population with 955 which is 41.0%, out of which 116 are coming from the urban centers with 839 from the rural areas constituting 12.2% and 87.9% respectively. The second highest disability form is the physical disability with 784 representing 33.7% out of which 14.40% are in the urban areas and 85.6% in the rural areas. The least form of disability is those with more than one form of disabilities recording 181 being 7.9% with 16.0% in the urban areas and 81.0% in the rural areas.

However, 2.3% of the male population has one form of disability or another whereas the female population also recorded 2.5% with disability. Both male and female populations have sight and physical disabilities as the worse form of disabilities with the male having 71.7% and 34.4% respectively and females also having 40.55 and 33.1% respectively. Having more than one form of disabilities being the least recorded 7.9% for the male population and 7.9% for the female population.

 

Agricultural Activities

The Discussion on the data on Agriculture indicated that there are 23,551 households in the district. 51.3% of the households engaged in agricultural activities. Out of the households in agriculture, 90.3% are in crop farming, 43.2% are engaged in livestock rearing, 0.3% in fish farming and 0.2% in tree planting. However, in the urban and rural areas, 92.4% of the households in the rural areas are into crop farming whereas in the urban areas 78.8% in the urban areas are into crop farming with livestock rearing recording 44.0% and 38.9% in the rural and the urban areas respectively.

 

Housing stock

Data on housing stock indicates that there are 19,389 houses in Asuogyaman district which is 44.9% of 431,697 for eastern region, 23,551 households and 96,027 total household population in the district. However, 73.1% of the houses, 71.0% of the total household population and 70.4% of the households in the district are in the rural areas. This supports the fact that Asuogyaman is a rural district. The average household and average person per house for both urban and rural are the same as that of the district.

Type of Dwelling, Holding and Tenancy arrangements

The discussion reviled that of the 23,551 of the houses in the district, 13,769 representing 58.5% of the houses are owned by households headed by males out of which 36 of the houses are purchased whereas the 9,782 representing 41.5% owned by female headed households 34 of the houses are purchased, 22 of those houses are in the urban areas and 48 of them are in the rural areas. Also 11,947 representing 50.7% of the houses in the district are owned by household members. However, with the urban and rural, about 81% of the houses owned by household members are in the rural areas while about 19% are in the urban areas and also about 70% of the houses owned by other private individuals are in the rural areas with the rest in the urban areas.

It was also realized that 37.6% of the households headed by males and 44.2% of the female headed households live in compound houses. However, 43.3% of the households in the urban areas live in compound houses whereas 39.1% of the households in the rural areas also live in compound houses. It was discovered that there are more male headed households living in separate houses, semi-detached houses and flats than their female counterparts. Again, there are more households in the rural areas living in separate houses than in the urban areas but with households living in semi-detached, flats/Apartments and compound houses, there are more in the urban areas than in the rural areas.

 

Construction materials

According to the data available, cement block/concrete is the most commonly used material for construction of the outer walls of dwellings in Asuogysman District (59.2%). Asuogyaman has about 32.9% of the dwellings using mud brick/earth for their outer walls. Nevertheless, significant number of the dwellings in the rural areas (40.7%) use the mud brick/earth than in the urban areas (14.1%) of the district. This may be as a result of its cheapness because of the fact that Asuogyaman is largely a rural district.

Room Occupancy

The analysis provides information on the number of ‘sleeping rooms’ per household. In Asuogyaman district over 80% of one member household use one room for sleeping, about 9% use two rooms for sleeping, 2% use three rooms for sleeping and less than 1% use four rooms and above for sleeping. Again, about 66% of two member household use one room for sleeping, about 26% use two rooms for sleeping, 5% use tree rooms for sleeping and about 2% use four rooms for sleeping. However, the trend shows that as the household size increases, the number of rooms available and used for sleeping reduces. This implies that the higher the household size the lesser the number of rooms used by the households for sleeping.

 

Access to utilities and household facilities

It was concluded that 74.8% of the houses in Asuogyaman district uses electricity (National grid) as the main source of lighting/power as compared to the 58.5% for the region and 64.2% for the country. The urban and rural areas of the district have about 88% and about 70% respectively of houses using electricity. The rural areas which has the lowest of 70% is greater than the regional (58.5%) and the national(64.2%) averages. The use of kerosene lamp is the second most used source of lighting for the district. The rural areas have 21.4%, urban 8.1% whiles the district as a whole has 17.5% of houses that use kerosene lamp for lighting.

 

Main Source of Water for Drinking and for other Domestic Use

Public tap/stand pipe, pipe-borne outside dwelling, borehole/pump/tube well and pipe borne inside dwelling are the major improved sources of drinking water in Asuogyaman district with 23.8%, 23.2%, 18.4% and 15.9% respectively. The urban areas have three major sources such as pipe borne inside dwelling (38.3%), pipe borne outside dwelling (29.9%) and public tap/ stand pipe. However, the areas different sources of improved sources like bore-hole/Pump/Tube well (26.0%), Public tap/Standpipe (21.7%), and Pipe-borne outside dwelling (20.4%). Unlike urban and district, rural has river/stream as one of the main sources of unimproved sources of drinking water with 12.5%. Like the sources of drinking water Asuogyaman has similar sources of water for other domestic use in the following sequence. Pipe borne outside dwelling has the highest usage percentage followed by public tap/stand pipe, followed by bore-hole/pump/tube well, pipe borne inside dwelling, pipe borne outside dwelling and river/stream at the district level.

 

 Bathing and Toilet Facilities

As indicated in table 8.9 14.3 percent of the households in Asuogyaman district use no toilet facility, meaning they make use of the bush/beach/ field as their toilet facilities. 2.2 percent of the households in the urban areas of the district also use the no toilet facility whilst as much as 19.4 percent of the households in the rural areas make use of the bush/beach/field. The public toilet (WC, KVIP, Pit Pan etc.) is the mostly used source of toilet facility in both the urban and the rural areas of the district recording 39.4 percent and 35.4 percent of the various households respectively. However, 39.9 percent of the households in the urban areas use WC as compared to 6.2 percent for the rural areas. The least used toilet facility in the district is the bucket/pan which is gradually facing out because of its health implications. It recorded 0.2 percent for the r rural areas and 0.3 percent for the urban areas with the district recording 0.2 percent. In Asuogyaman district, Public toilet and the WC which are considered the most hygienic are the most used. It is evidenced that bathroom for exclusive used is the dominant type being used in both the urban and the rural areas and the district at large. It is worth noting that the rural areas of the district have the same proportion of households who uses the ‘own bathroom for exclusive use’ which may be considered the ideal facility of 25.9 percent as the urban areas recorded the highest of 39.1 percent.

Method of Waste Disposal

The analysis indicates t3hat among the households in Asuogyaman district 39.9 percent of them disposes their solid waste through the public dump (open space). 41.5 percent of the households in the rural areas and 36.0 percent of the households in the urban areas also disposes their solid waste through the same public dump. Invariably, 33.3 percent of the households in the urban areas have their solid waste collected but the collection method is not common in the rural areas of the district. Less than 5.0 percent use the collection procedure. Indiscriminate dumping which is the worst form of waste disposal is on the low usage. Only 0.6 percent of the households in the urban and 6.6 percent in the rural areas dispose through the indiscriminate dumping. This explains why the district is one of the cleanest in the country.  Again, the proportion of dwelling units where liquid waste was thrown onto the compound was 60.4 percent. Majority of the practice is being carried out in the rural areas.

 

Investment potentials

Asuogyaman District is filled with several potentials and attractions yet to be explored. A sample of these potentials are outlined below:

• The country’s largest hydro-electric dam which provides electricity for the nation and for export to other neighbouring countries.
• The Suspension Bridge over the Volta (Adomi Bridge).
• Serene Environment and stable power for the establishment of educational and industrial installations.
• Large tracks of arable lands for cultivation of crops in commercial quantities.
• Rich culture of the Anum, Boso and Akwamufie Traditional Councils for tourism development.
• The inland port at Akosombo which facilitates transportation of goods and people to and from Akosombo and the northern regions of the country.
• Natural landscape and a Long stretch of shoreling for the development of tourism facilities such as Hotels, Pleasure/Recreational parks, boat cruising, apartments and water sports.
• Deposits of limestone in commercial quantities.
• The Lake provides a good atmosphere for aquaculture development.

There are over 30 modern hotels to serve travellers and tourist. Some of these facilities are:

• The Royal Senchi Hotel
• Afrikiko water front resort
• Aylos Bay Resort
• Akosombo Continental Hotel
• Sajuna Beach Club
• Volta Hotel
• Volta Safari River Side
• Adi Lake resort
• Lake side Motel
• Sound rest motels
• Zitto Guest House
• Hi-Heaven Hotel etc.