The Ayensuano District is one of the newly created Districts in the Eastern Region of Ghana which was carved out of the then Suhum Kraboa Coaltar District Assembly by Legislative Instrument Number 2052 and was inaugurated on 28th June, 2012. The District has its capital at Coaltar.
Politically, the District has only one Constituency called the Ayensuano Constituency with forty (40) electoral areas. Ayensuano District is made up of three (3) separate zones joined together. These are Obesua Zone, Anum Apapam Zone and Kraboa-Coaltar Zone.
VISION
To become the most effective and efficient local governance unit and promote total development for the people
MISSION STATEMENT
To ensure and deepen participatory democracy and use it as a tool for bringing governance to the door-step of the people, improve upon the socio-economic life of the people, provide the requisite infrastructure and the acquisition of skills and training for meaningful employment generation and promote sustainable development.
Location, Morphology
The District lies within Latitudes 50 451N and 60 51 N and Longitudes 00 151W and 00 45W. It is located in the southern part of the Eastern Region and shares boundaries with Suhum Municipality to the North; Nsawam Adoagyiri Municipality to the South; Akwapem South District to the East and Upper West Akim District and West Akim Municipality to the West. The District has a total land area of 499km2
Economically, the District can be described as agrarian because it has majority of its labour force in the agricultural sector. This is followed by commerce, industry, transport and clerical respectively.
The agricultural and forest resource base of the District facilitates the establishment of manufacturing and processing industries. However, there is no large scale manufacturing setup in the District. Manufacturing is therefore restricted to the small-scale industries and crafts which include; saw milling and wood fabrication, metal fabrication, food processing, alcohol (akpeteshie) distillation, soap making and handicrafts among others.
The District has various market centres for commercial activities especially for marketing farm produce. The main markets areas for trading activities are at Amanase, Anum Apapam, and Dokrochiwa markets which are bi- weekly.
The informal sector of the District’s economy has a lot of service providers such as hairdressers and beauticians, barbers, dressmakers, cobblers etc.
There are also mining, quarrying and sand winning activities in the District. Mining is mainly of the alluvial type in the basin of the Ayensu by both formal sector company and artisan miners also known as the galamsey operators.
There are many quarrying sites in the District which are yet to be exploited. There is also a great potential for the quarry industry in the District given its proximity to Accra.
Tourism in the District is completely under developed though there are some potential tourist attraction sites. Among them are waterfalls and snake-like palm tree at Obuoho Nyarko.
Relief and Drainage
The area has a few highlands with the Atiwa range which stands at about 610m above sea level being the highest elevation in the District. This range is the catchment area of the major rivers and streams in the District, namely Ayensu and Kua.
The major underlying rocks in the District are economically important as it contains most of the valuable minerals such as Gold and Bauxite which can be exploited for foreign exchange. The rocks found in the District are also suitable for both building and constructional purposes and can therefore be exploited to the benefit of the District.
Climate
The District is located in the forest zone of Ghana. The climatic conditions are of the tropical type where average temperatures are usually high throughout the year and this range from 240C to 290C. The hottest months are March and April while the coolest months are December and January. Relative humidity especially in the rainy season (April to November) is 87% and 91%. In the dry season, it is between 48% and 52%.
The rainfall pattern is influenced by the tropical monsoon winds which originate from the south-west and move to the north-east respectively. The first and major season occurs between April and July and the second and minor season occurs between September and November. The annual rainfall figure for the district ranges between 1270mm and 1651mm.
Vegetation
The District was originally covered by a semi deciduous forest. However, human activity in the form of cultivation, lumbering and extraction of fuel wood has considerably reduced the land covered by the original vegetation to an insignificant level and is now covered mostly by re-growth thickets and secondary forests.
The District has very suitable soil conditions for the development of agriculture and the lumber industry. There are large scale production of cash crops such as cocoa, oil palm, cassava, plantain, maize, vegetables and fruits. These crops are produced on commercial and subsistence basis.
Soils and their Suitability for Agriculture
Generally, the soil found in the District is fertile for both food crops such as Cocoa, coffee, fruits, plantain, cassava, cocoyam, vegetables and cereals. The production of these crops helps to sustain food supply and reduces hunger and poverty in the District. Most of these crops are exported to other places such as Accra, Tema, Koforidua, among others.
Intensive farming activities for the production of both plantain and food crops and other human activities within the thickly populated areas have greatly influenced the nature of soils resulting in nutrient depletion, soil erosion, iron pan formation and land degradation.
Demographic Characteristics
The demographic structure of the Ayensuano District bears similarities with other rural districts in Ghana. The district is characterized by relatively large household sizes, high illiteracy and mortality rates among others discussed as follows:
Population Size and Distribution
The total population for the District is 77,193 which is made up of 38,440 (49.8%) males and 38,753 (50.2%) females. Majority of the District’s population live in the rural areas (93%) whiles only a few proportion of the population resides in the urban areas (7%).
The sex ratio of the District is 99.2 and higher for the age group 0-19 years. (2010 Population and Housing Census, Ghana Statistical Service)
In terms of spatial distribution, most of the three hundred and twenty (345) settlements (localities) of the District have population of less than 500. The largest settlements by population are Anum Apapam (5250), Amanase (4417), Asuboi (3426) Teacher Mante (3388), Coaltar (2789), Dokrochiwa (2647), Otoase (1771), Kofi pare (1723), Kuano (1438), Akyeansa (1420), Kwaboanta (1284), Obuoho (1218), Sowatey (1138), Krabokese (1106).
Age-Sex Structure
The District population is of youthful nature as majority of the district population fall within under 15 years (40.5%), 15-24 years (16.4) and 30-59 years (27.3%) age groups. There are disparities across the different age groups for both males and females. The under 15 (42.3%) and 15-24 years (16.9) age groups has higher proportion of males than females. But the proportion of females from the age group 25-29 (7.2%), 30-59 (28.4%) and 60+ years (9.8%) are higher than that of males.
Population Density
With a land area of 499sq km and population size of 77, 193 the population density of the district was 155 per sq km in 2010.
Dependency Ratio
Dependency ratio is a measure of the dependent population made up of those below 15 years and 65 years and older, to those in the “economically productive” ages of 15-64 years.
The total dependency ratio of the District is 88. This suggests that for every 100 people in the working age population, about 88 people depend on them. But child dependency constitutes more than half (76.1) as compared with old age dependency ratio (11.9).
Child dependency ratio among males (81.4) is higher than females (71). This means 100 persons in the working class cater for almost 82 (81.4) male children whiles 100 persons cater for 71 female children. On the other hand, with old age dependency ratio, 100 persons cater for 11 males and almost 13 (12.8) females respectively.
Rural-Urban Distribution
Majority of the District’s population live in the rural areas (93%) whiles only a few proportion of the population resides in the urban areas (7%). Some of the urban communities in the District include Coaltar, Dokrochiwa, Teacher Mantey, Kofi Pare, Anum Apapam, Amanase and Asuboi.
Human Settlement Patterns
The settlement pattern is generally nucleus (cf: dispersed) type. However, there is this pattern of hamlets inhabited by a man and his family and a few other persons strung along the bush road or path which may bear the same name. This makes the location of amenities especially schools building and the extension of electricity very difficult and expensive. More boreholes are needed than what the population size call for.
Social Characteristics
The district can be classified as a settler one with more than 90% of the people tracing their current ancestry from other districts of the region or other parts of the country. Though the decline of the cocoa industry in the district led to people leaving in search for new land elsewhere and the loss of business, people from less endowed parts of the country still continue to come in search of land for food crop farming.
- The District population is a mixture of all the ethnic groups of the country made up of Akan, Ga – Dangme, Guan, Ewe, Grunshies, Gurme, Mande and Others. The pre-dominant language of the district is Twi. There are two types of inheritance system in the District: The Akan speaking people are matrilineal whiles the rest including the Guans are patrilineal. All ethnic groups and people are free to observe their religious/traditional festivals in the areas they inhabit. However, Odwira is the main festival celebrated by the people in the District which is observed from September to November.
- In terms of traditional authority, the District is part of the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Area whose overlord is the Okyenhene. The sub chiefs of the District though of settler stock origin have been made members of the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Council.
- There are 18,098 households in the district and an average household size of 4.3 persons. Heads constitute 23.9 percent of household members with more male heads (30.9%) than female heads (16.8%). The predominant (26.4%) household composition in relation in the District is Household with head spouse(s) and biological/adopted children only whiles the least (0.7%) household composition is spouse(s) biological/adopted children relatives and nonrelatives of the head.
- In the district, almost 43 percent (42.9%) of persons 12 years and older are married whiles 34.3 percent have never married. There is disparity between among sexes, of the male population 41.9 percent are married whiles 42.4 percent have never married. In relation to females, 43.9 percent are married whiles 26.5 percent have never married.
- Out of the persons 11 years and older, 20.3 percent are not literate whiles 79.7 percent are literate. Among the literate population, 53.9 percent are males whiles 46.1 are females. On the other hand, females constitute more than half (4%) of the illiterate population whiles the males are 30.6 percent.
- The level of education by school attendance indicates that majority of the population (96.2%) are currently attending basic education (8.7% Nursery, 17.1% Kindergarten, 53.6% Primary and 16.8% JHS). The proportion of the population who has attained basic education in the past constitutes about 91 percent (27.8% Primary, 30.8% JSS, and 32.3% Middle school). Less than one percent (0.5%) of the population currently attending school is from secondary to tertiary. This is far below those who have attained secondary to tertiary education in the past (2.2%).
- The population of the district is made up of Christians, Muslims and Traditionalists. Christians constitute about 84 percent (82.8%) of the population, Muslims about 4 percent, Traditionalists 2 percent and people with no religion about 9.4 percent.
- The District has 3,505 persons with various forms of disability representing 4.5 percent of the total population. There are about 4.5 and 4.6 percent of the disabled population who are males and females respectively. Among the urban population, there are 8.2 percent persons living with disability whiles the rural population have 4.3 percent. Sight impairment (34.6%) and physical disability (29%) are the commonest type of disability in the District.
Utility Services
Utility services particularly electricity, water supply, telecommunications are very crucial for the development of the District. Economic infrastructure of the district is not adequate and the delivery of utilities is limited.
- Telecommunication
Most parts of the District have mobile phone network coverage especially along the Nsawam stretch through Teacher Mante, Amanase, Asuboi, Kyekyere, Budu and other adjourning towns and villages. The District capital, Coaltar is also covered. In addition, these areas do benefit from internet facilities as well. The main telecommunication services available in the District are Vodafone, MTN, Tigo and Expresso.
The Ayensuano District with support from the Government of Ghana and VSO has an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Centre at Kofi Pare with the vision to create universal access to information technology. This is to promote community-based ICT applications for accelerated growth and development through effective and timely availability of information. Apart from the ICT centre at Kofi Pare, there are other private owned internet cafes at Amanase, Coaltar and Asuboi.
- Postal Services
Ayensuano can boast of only one post office located at Coaltar, the District Capital which offers services such as inland, international mails, postal and money orders, Instant money transfer and EMS. However, the nature of the building needs immediate rehabilitation.
- Energy
The main sources of energy in the District are electricity, petroleum products and fire wood and Charcoal. The District gets it electricity supply from the Akyem Tafo sub-station. Fire wood – dry wood and charcoal are the main sources of energy for cooking and heating. It is used for both domestic and industrial (Agro-processing, alcohol distillation and soap making). As a newly created district, it is hoped that LPG will soon be promoted within the district through the facilitation and encouraging the private sector to invest in that sector. This is hoped will go a long way in reducing the current pressure on wood with its corresponding effects on the environment.
- Water Supply
The people of Ayensuano District are mainly dependant on boreholes hand dug wells and rainfall. The District has a major problem with good water supply. There are constant water shortages which has resulted in an intense pressure on the low yielding boreholes; coupled with inadequate rainfall has worsen the peoples plight of getting portable water for domestic, agri-business and industrial usage. This indirectly affects productivity as workers and pupils have to spend their productive hours (3hrs or more) looking for streams and ponds, while others need to move beyond 4km. The effect of this is more felt within the dry season where women and children are mostly affected.
Roads and Drains
Roads in the district are classified into three categories: namely, Highways, Town roads and Feeder roads.
- Highways
These are the Nsawam-Coaltar-Asamankese roads of which the district has stretches of totaling about 70km.
- Town Roads
The length is about 120 km which are not tarred and many section of the town are not easily accessible
- Feeder Roads
There is an extensive feeder road network of about 350kms in the district, most of these roads were originally roads constructed by timber merchants or footpaths linking small farming villages/hamlet that have been upgraded
- Lorry Park
There are no designated vehicle loading spots throughout the district but drivers load along road sides and parks. Thus there are no passenger waiting shelters.
Agriculture
The economy of the Ayensuano District can be described as an agrarian as it is estimated that about 62% of the economically active population of the district is engaged in agricultural production on full or part-time basis.
Size of Arable Land
The district is endowed with an estimated arable land of 38,000 hectares being 70% of the total landmass. A total of 25,543 hectares have been cultivated which represents 67.2% of the available arable land.
Agricultural Holding Land
Total number of holders in the district is estimated at 17,432 (MOFA, Multi Round Annual Crops and Livestock Survey {MRACLS} figures). About 24 % of this is female. Categorization in to different age groups reveals that people who are involved in or are connected to agricultural production are in the youthful bracket (19 – 49years).
Land Tenure Systems
There are several methods by which land is acquired in the district for agricultural production purposes. These include:
- Outright purchase
- Lease and
- Share cropping
Under the lease arrangement, the land owner and the farmer come to an agreement on the period of the lease and the amount to be paid over the period and how. The agreement may be verbal or written.
The type of sharecropping agreement depends on the landowner and what is prevalent in the area. The two traditional share cropping systems of ‘Abunu’ and ‘Abusa’ are practiced in the District.
These notwithstanding, individuals wishing to go into agriculture still face some difficulties in acquiring land. The reasons for this are varied and include:
- Scarcity of land within reasonable walking distance from settlements and motorable roads.
- High cost of land for renting or outright purchase.
- Unfavourable share cropping systems and
- Land litigation which leads to court injunctions as well as threats and physical assaults by
aggrieved parties.
Farm Sizes
Family heads having to share the same finite piece of land, to increasing family members over the years, have led to land fragmentation. This, coupled with communal ownership and inadequate financial assistance tend to inhibit large scale farming. Though there are a few individuals cropping five hectares and above, the average farm size per household is less than 2 hectares
Farm Labour
There is labour shortage at all levels of crop production, especially, during land clearing and weeding. The shortage is due in part to the fact that everyone will be busily engaged on his/her farm during this period and also because of the loss of the youth who constitutes the larger labour force through the rural-urban drift to the capital city and the other larger cities.
Despite the occurrence of labour shortages, about 70% of farmers rely on the services of hired labour in their farming activities. Other groups like household members and relatives constitute 25%. The “nnoboa” or co-operative groups also fill in the gap in the farm-labour equation as they constitute 5% of the farmers who were contacted.
Storage Facilities
Field survey conducted in the district revealed that modern or improved storage facilities are not available for use by the farmers. The farmers are therefore invariably compelled to dispose off most of their produce as and when it is harvested.
The producers of vegetables (such as garden eggs, pepper, tomato, okra) and citrus are adversely affected as prices at which these perishable food items are sold fluctuate to the detriment of the producers. The buyers take advantage of their perishability and quote prices which mostly do not meet the expectations of farmers.
In the case of other crops like maize and yam, the farmers employ traditional method of storage.
- Barns and Cribs as Means of Storing Excess Food.
About 80% of the producers employ traditional barns to store produce while 15% and 5% make use of roof-storage and silos respectively. Other crops like cassava are processed into gari and dough for sale in both the local and other markets.
Extension
The major farming system in the district is mixed – cropping. The crops usually identified with this farming system include staple food crops like cassava, cocoyam, plantain, yam and maize. Due to the small sizes of the plots cultivated, the major crops which are cultivated are inter-cropped with vegetables like chilies, tomatoes, green leaves and various types of beans. This system tends to satisfy the basic nutritional needs of the farmers.
The slash and burn method is still employed in the preparation of land, where the cutlass is the main tool used in the process. Hoes and other digging implements are employed at the planting stage. The terrain to a large extent does not favour mechanized farming.
Apart from the Voluntary Service Organisation (VSO) and International Cocoa Initiative which has entered into a form of extension support arrangement for farmers, agricultural extension in the district is carried out mainly by the staff of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA). However, service delivery is under severe constraints.
Crop Cultivation
Crop production can be classified into the production of staples (maize, cassava, plantain, yam & cocoyam) and cash/non-traditional/export crops.
There were fluctuations in the production of staples over the period 2010-2013 as shown below:
Table 6.1: Annual Estimate Crop Area (HA) & Production (MT) for Major Staples
| YEAR | MAIZE | CASSAVA | PLANTAIN | COCOYAM | YAM | |||||
| CROP AREA | PROD | CROP AREA | PROD | CROP AREA | PROD | CROP AREA | PROD | CROP AREA | PROD. | |
| 2010 | 8193 | 32773 | 8487 | 314026 | 3882 | 34556 | 571 | 18573 | – | – |
| 2011 | 8814 | 33967 | 9084 | 245285 | 4124 | 49494 | 365 | 1668 | – | – |
| 2012 | 9829 | 33419 | 9314 | 217935 | 2715 | 33940 | 13.8 | 449 | 25 | 321 |
Source: DADU, AyDA
Gold Mining
Mining is mainly of the alluvial type in the basin of the Ayensu by both a by formal sector company and artisan miners also known as the galamsay operators. Unfortunately the contribution by the galamsay operators to public revenue is very negligible since most of them operate illegally.
The impact of mining activities on the environment has very adverse effects. Rivers and Streams which serve as sources of water for the environment has been destroyed.
In spite of its negative environmental impact small-scale mining is a potential source of employment for the youth. What needs to be done in the district level is to enforce national laws in the sector and alleviate the numerous social problems and general lawless apart from environmental degradation.
Quarrying
There is one main quarry at Asuboi along Suhum Accra Road. There is a great potential for the quarry industry in the district given its proximity to Accra.
Tourism / Hospitality
Tourism in the district is completely under developed though there are some potential tourist attraction sites. Among them are waterfalls and snake like palm tree at Obuoho Nyarko near Anum- Apapam.
There are no hotels in the District but has guesthouses totaling seven (7). This is inadequate. There are no restaurants in the district. However, there are many way-side restaurants (chop bars) which serve Ghanaian dishes.
Employment Status in the District
The labour population of the district, 15 years and above can be classified as follows:
- Working or not working
- Occupational
- Industrial
- Employed or self-employed
The economically active population is 78.5%.It consists of those who are working or have a job but are not working or are unemployed. All other categories are not economically acti
The occupational distribution is as follows:
- Skilled Agriculture, forestry and fishery 5%
- Service and Sales workers 3%
- Craft and related workers 9%
- Plant and Machine operators and assemblers 4%
- Elementary occupations 8%
- Professionals 4%
- Managers 9%
- Technicians and Associate professionals 7%
- Clerical Support workers 2%
The table below gives the data on the Economically Active Population of AyDA concerning the employed and the unemployed.
Table 6.5: Economically Active Population
|
Type of Activity |
Male | Female | All sexes | |||
| % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | |
| Employed | 97.1 | 17,132 | 95.6 | 17,624 | 96.3 | 34,756 |
| Unemployed | 2.9 | 518 | 4.4 | 820 | 3.7 | 1,338 |
| 17,650 | 18,444 | 36,094 | ||||
Source: PHC, 2010
In the table above the level of employed people appears to be high or that for (unemployed) too low with regard to current public perceptions. Employed means; being engaged in an economic activity that leads to financial returns. Thus hawkers of cooked groundnuts, a woman who roasts plantains etc are all included. However there is no doubt about the high rate of UNDEREMPLOYMENT. The information provided does not refer to only people who earn wages /salaries.
The high percentage for employed people is due to the fact that the district is predominant agricultural, one does not need to write an application or attend an interview to become a farmer. The same thing applies to trading which is also important in the district. What the Government, District Assembly and all other stakeholders in the development of the district need to do are the following among others:
- Increase agricultural productivity through infusion of more credit into the sector to enable farmers acquire more and better inputs (fertilizers, machines, chemicals, improved seedlings etc)
- Improvement in extension services
- Opening up of the rural areas through the construction and upgrading of feeder roads. This will improve the marketing of farm produce
- A reconsideration by the government of its stand on the issue of guaranteed minimum price for other crops.