Jaman North District is one of the twenty two (22) administrative districts in the Brong Ahafo Region of the Republic of Ghana. It is one of the twenty-eight (28) newly created districts and was created under the Legislative Instrument (LI) 1779 of 2004.
Location and Size
The District is located between latitude 7’40” N and 8’27”N and longitude 2’30”W and 2’60”W. It is strategically located to the Western part of the Brong Ahafo Region and to the North Western fringes of neighbouring Cote d’ Ivoire. It shares local boundaries with Tain District to the North through to the Eastern part of the district, Jaman South District to the South West and Berekum Municipal to the South East.
The District itself also serves as a constituency (Jaman North Constituency) and has seven Area/Town Councils namely; Sampa Town Council, Suma Area Council, Kwatwoma Area Council, and Asiri-Jankufa Area Council. The rest are Goka Area Council, Nafana East and West Area Councils.
The District with Sampa as its capital has a land size of about 640 square kilometers. Sampa the district capital is located 119km from Sunyani the regional capital.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Topology and drainage
The relief of the district is undulating and rises between 150 and 600 meters above sea level. The isolated hills are located around Asuokor, Goka and Suma-Ahenkro.
The drainage pattern of the district is largely dendritic and flows in a south and south eastern direction. The major river in the district is the Tain whilst a number of minor streams abound in the district.
Climate and Vegetation
Lying within the wet semi-equatorial region, the district experiences a mean annual rainfall ranging between 120mm to 178mm. the district enjoys bi-modal rainfall patterns with the major one occurring between April to July and the minor one between Septembers to October each year.
Relative Humidity is generally high, ranging between 70-80% during the rainy season. The month of August usually experiences a short dry season with the major one occurring between November and March. Average annual temperature is about 260o C.
The vegetation of the District is characterized by two main ecological zones. The major vegetation is the woodland consisting of widely dispersed short trees and grasses/ shrubs.
This covers about 65% of the total land area of the District. This part of the land is suitable for the cultivation of cashew, yam, cassava, rice, beans and groundnut.
Major towns located in this area are Sampa, Jamera, Kabile, Bonakire, Adadiem, Jinini, Duadaso and Suma-Ahenkro. The semi-deciduous forest also consists of secondary forest that is suitable for the cultivation of plantain, cocoyam, cassava and yam.
It is in this area that major timber species such as Odum, Wawa, Mahogany and Teak harvested in the District are found. Major settlements in the area include Seketia, Asiri, Jankufa, Goka, Asuokor and Asantekrom.
Geology and Soil
The District is largely characterized by soils developed from the Birimian and Buem series. These geological features together with the vegetation influence give rise to two main soils in the district, namely the Savanna Ochrosols and the Forest Ochrosols.
Birimian, Buem and Dahomeyan rocks underline the land area of the District. Considering the mineral potential of these rocks, mountainous areas like Asuokor and Asantekrom have potentials for gold exploitation while clay deposits also abound in Bonakire and Adadiem.
Environmental Situation
Natural Environment
With the District falling under two vegetative covers, it is facing serious threat of devastation by human and animal population pressures such as housing expansion, farming, overgrazing, bushfires, and timber exploitation. It is evident that given the current situation, the rate of devastation of the scarce environmental resources will hasten if calculated attempts are not made to arrest the situation.
Forest Reserve and Plantation
Currently, there is no forest reserve in the District except isolated sacred and reserved places around water bodies and shrines which help to protect the environment. Wood plantations are established by individuals, groups and communities.
Major Crops Produced
The major economic potential of the District is food and cash crop production. The major crops cultivated in the District are yam, maize, cassava, cocoyam, pepper, groundnut, tomatoes and garden eggs while the district is reputed to be the largest producer of cashew nut in the country. The District indisputably leads in cashew production but unfortunately the produce are carted and exported annually in their raw state by local and foreign merchants to the little benefit of the District and the nation as a whole.
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Production Figures of some Major Crops-2010 |
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| CROP | MAIZE | CASSAVA | YAM | COCOYAM | PLANTAIN |
| Area Cropped (Ha) | 3,560 | 1,860 | 9,130 | 960 | 610 |
| Yield (Mt/Ha) | 2.00 | 14.44 | 15.00 | 7.05 | 7.93 |
| Production (Mt) | 7,120 | 26,858 | 136,950 | 6,768 | 4,837 |
Presently, the cashew nuts are processed into nuts under subsistence levels but large scale processing is required to encourage farmers to produce more.
The crop has competitive advantage and proven potential for food security, industrial growth and export.
Land Tenure and Farming Systems
The lands in the District are owned by the three paramouncies and hence have control on the use of lands within their jurisdictions.
All the subjects within the paramountcy who work on the land hold them in trust for the Paramount Chief. Any attempt for large tracks of lands for commercial purposes must therefore be done in consultation with the paramouncies. The common farming systems practiced within the District are the mixed and mono cropping. The average farm size is about 1 hectare (2.5 acres) whiles proportion of women with access to lands to cultivate is about 30%.
Crop farming
Farmers practice mixed cropping and multiple cropping systems, others are vegetable farmers. There are tree fruit crop farmers where majority of farmers have acreages and hectares of cashew, citrus, mango, oil palm etc.
Livestock farming: Some farmers apart from doing crop farming also have livestock. There are cattle farmers, poultry farmers, pig farmers and small ruminant farmers. In the district every household rear local birds. Most farmers have been given clinical treatment to their animals and technological packages to farmers have been well disseminated.
Fish farming: Fish farmers have been identified in the District and the directorate has visited their ponds. Interactions with the farmers show that they have little knowledge in fish farming. Measures are being taken to organise them for a comprehensive training in fish farming.
Field demonstrations
Under the Cashew Development Project (CDP) cashew demonstrations were established in the district. A total number of 28 demonstrations were established in 12 communities on cashew farms in the district. The main purpose of the demonstration is to control weeds. These demonstrations were established since 2008.
Fertilizer Subsidy Programme
The Government launched the fertilizer subsidy programme in the year 2008 to help farmers reduce the cost of agricultural inputs. It started with the coupon system, where farmers go to their extension officers for the coupons to purchase fertilizers. In 2010, the coupon system was replaced with the waybill receipt system where farmers go straight to the retailers to buy subsidized fertilizers without coupons, then at the end of the month the retailer send the quantity of fertilizers farmers have bought to the District Director of agriculture for endorsement before payments are made.
The fertilizer subsidy programme is still helping farmers to reduce the cost of agricultural inputs they incurred during the farming seasons.
SPECIAL PROJECTS
• Block farm: In 2010, the district started the block farm programme for the major and minor seasons.
| BLOCK FARM | ||||
|
SEASON |
No of farmers | acreage | ||
| Maize | Rice | Maize | Rice | |
| Major | 30 | 2 | 74 | 18 |
| Minor | 81 | 6 | 175.7 | 6 |
| Total | 111 | 8 | 249.7 | 24 |
- Cashew Development Project
Area of New Cashew Farms established
| No. | Item | 2008 (Ha) | 2009 (Ha) | 2010 (Ha) | GRAND TOTAL | ||||
| 1 | Total area of new cashew farms established | 194 | 133 | 111 | 438 | ||||
| 2 | Number of Farmers | Participants | Participants | Participants | |||||
| Male | 279 | Male | 233 | Male | 172 | 684 | |||
| Female | 100 | Female | 137 | Female | 65 | 302 | |||
| Total | 379 | Total | 370 | Total | 237 | 986 | |||
Area of Cashew Farms planted to intercrops (Ha)
| No. | CROP | ACREAGE (Ha) | GRAND TOTAL (Ha) | ||
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |||
| 1. | Maize | 116 | 96 | 86 | 298 |
| 2. | Yam | 78 | 64 | 68 | 210 |
Number of Cashew Farms Mapped
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
| 0 | 200 | 0 |
Area under Canopy Substitution
| ITEM | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | GRAND TOTAL |
| No. of trees identified | 2000 | 672 | 512 | 3184 |
| No. of trees stumped | 1399 | 514 | 345 | 2258 |
| No. of grafted trees taken | 956 | 298 | 211 | 1465 |
EXTENSION AND TRAINING ACTIVITIES
Number of groups formed
| YEAR | No. OF GROUPS FORMED | MALE | FEMALE | TOTAL |
| 2008 | 34 | 209 | 116 | 325 |
| 2009 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 10 |
| 2010 | 11 | 50 | 60 | 110 |
| GRAND TOTAL | 46 | 265 | 180 | 445 |
Training
|
YEAR |
TYPE OF TRAINING |
PARTICIPATION |
TOTAL |
|
| MALE | FEMALE | |||
| 2008 | Lining & pegging, row planting, seed selection, effective weed control, etc. | 341 | 206 | 547 |
| 2009 | Effective weed control, pruning & thinning, lining & pegging etc. | 1598 | 897 | 2495 |
| 2010 | Schedule spraying, post harvest handling of cashew nuts, grading and standardization of cashew nuts, out – turn test etc. | 643 | 375 | 1018 |
| TOTAL | 2582 | 1478 | 4060 | |
Staff Training
|
YEAR |
No. OF TRAINING | TYPE OF TRAINING | PARTICIPATION |
TOTAL |
|
| MALE | FEMALE | ||||
| 2008 | 3 | Post harvest handling of cashew nuts, effective pruning & thinning of cashew trees etc. | 13 | 1 | 14 |
| 2009 | 4 | Rejuvenation of unproductive cashew trees, post harvest handling of cashew nuts, grading and standardization of cashew nuts, out – turn test etc. | 14 | 1 | 15 |
| 2010 | 2 | Grading and standardization of cashew nuts, out-turn test etc. | 11 | 0 | 11 |
Field Days
| YEAR | No. OF FIELD DAYS ORGANISED | PARTICIPANTS | ISSUES ADDRESSED | |
| MALE | FEMALE | |||
| 2008 | 17 | 294 | 112 | Group demonstrations of lining & pegging, effective weed control etc. |
| 2009 | 13 | 369 | 185 | Effective weed control, effective weed control demo etc. |
| 2010 | 16 | 388 | 191 | Group demonstrations of lining & pegging, effective weed control effective pest & disease control demonstrations etc. |
| TOTAL | 46 | 1051 | 488 | |
| GRAND TOTAL | 1539 | |||
Radio programme
| YEAR | No. OF RADIO PROGRAMMES CONDUCTED | ISSUES DISCUSSED |
| 2008 | 46 | Pest and bushfire control, harvesting and storage of cashew nuts, grading of cashew nuts, loan repayment etc. |
| 2009 | 45 | Loan repayment, planting of cashew, establishment of new cashew farms, rehabilitation of unproductive mature farms, field management etc. |
| 2010 | 30 | Grafting of cashew and it’s importance, lining and pegging, harvesting and post harvest of cashew nuts, loan repayment, field management etc. |
| TOTAL | 121 |
SPECIAL PROGRAMMES
Africa Cashew Initiative (ACi)
Africa Cashew Initiative (ACi) in collaboration with the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) took over from CDP when Cashew Development Project ended in September 2010. Under the country program, ACi is implementing its cashew program in 17 Districts in the Volta, Brong Ahafo and Northern Regions in collaboration with the Ministry of Food & Agriculture (MOFA) with the aim of assisting 25,000 small scale cashew producers to increase their productivity levels by improving the yield and nut quality which is key to raising income levels of cashew farmers in Ghana.
Objective of the partnership:
The objective of the partnership is to enhance smallholder cashew farmer’s access to improved planting materials within the cashew growing areas of the project districts of ACi.
Specific Activities:
The following activities will be implemented to achieve the objective of the program:
1. Construction of a model shade house.
2. Rising of 9,900 root stock cashew seedlings for the production of 8,400 grafted seedlings.
3. Grafting of elite scions.
4. After care management of the grafted cashew seedlings.
Funding:
ACi will provide the necessary funds to cover the costs of the shade house, garden tools and agri-inputs. Also the cost of labour related to grafting.
A cashew farmer group from Sampa with other groups from Berekum and Jaman South were selected for a 3 day workshop in March 2011 at the MOFA Office in Drobo on the establishment of a cashew nursery in the selected districts.
Achievements
From 2008 – 2010 three (3) farmers nominated for regional awards have all been presented with their awards. The awards were:
1. Regional best bee keeper
2. Regional Best Pepper Farmer
3. Regional Best Cashew Farmer.
