Pru

LOCATION & SIZE

•   Located in the North-Eastern portion of Sunyani, the Regional Capital of Brong-Ahafo Ghana
•   District Capital: – Yeji, about 310km from regional capital, Sunyani via Nkoranza/Techiman.
•   Lies between latitudes 7o 50’ N and 8o 22’ N and longitudes 0o 30 W and 1o 26’W.
•   Land Area: 2,195km2
•   Adjoining Districts:
East Gonja District to the North (N/R)
Sene District to the East
Nkoranza and Atebubu-Amanten to the South
Kintampo North and Kintampo South to the West.

TOPOGRAPHY & DRAINAGE
•   Generally plain with rolling and undulating land surface
•   General land elevation is between 60m -300m above sea level
•   Highest point is a little over 300m above sea level
•   Falls within the Voltain basin
•   Major water bodies: Volta lake, Pru River, Nyomo, Tanfi and Nwansi
•   Rivers flows through West of the District
•   Area is well drained
•   Drainage is generally dendritic.

SOIL
Good soils developed under Savanna vegetation.
•   Belong to the “ground water lateritic soil”
•   Formed over the voltain shale and granite.
•   Classified under the Damongo-Murugu/Ejura-Seni compound. Kowani-Kasele/Kpelesawgu-Limo compound, and Kpalsawgu-Changnaili-Lima compound associations.
•   Compound associations are fine textured, ranging from fine sandy loams and mostly poorly drained.
•   Soils are agriculturally important and support cultivation of yam, cassava, maize, rice, groundnuts, garden eggs, okro, tomatoes, and pepper.

CLIMATE
•   District experience the tropical continental or interior savanna type of climate which is a modified form of the tropical continental or Wet Semi-Equatorial type.
•   One major rainfall regime.
•   Major rains:     July   –   October
•   Minor rains:     April         –   June
•   Annual rainfall:     1400mm – 1800mm
•   Mean monthly temperature ranges from 30 0C to 24 0C
•   Mean annual temperature ranges between 26.50C and 27.20C
•   Hottest months: Between March and April (30 0C – 40 0C)
•   Falls under the influence of North-East trade winds (Hamattan)
•   Climatic conditions are unstable in the District
•   Prolonged dry season between November and March/ April
•   Sunny conditions occur for most parts of the year
•   Relative humidity – Highest: 75-80% in wet seasons; lowest: 70-72% in dry season.

VEGETATION
•   Vegetation types consist of grassland, wooded savanna or tree savanna and ‘fringe forest’
•   Interior wooded savanna (but not typical due to its transitional nature) or tree savanna.
•   Trees such as the Baobab, Dawadawa, Acacia and the Shea butter are found in the zone
•   Trees are few and scattered along the margins of the Moist Deciduous Forest where trees often grow quite close together.
•   Grasses grow tussocks and can reach a height of 10ft or more

OTHERS
•   About 65% of the economically active population are engaged in agriculture
•   Average farm size is a hectare per farmer
Specialization & comparative advantage
Specialization in the agricultural sector can be observed in three main sectors.
i.    Animal Husbandry/poultry production
ii.    Food/vegetable production
iii.    Fisheries

DEMOGRAPHY
•   Population            98,077 (2008 estimated by Ghana Statistical Service)
i.    Males       49,886
ii.    Females   48,191   (Source – PDA)
•   Growth rate        3.6%
•   Density       42.8 persons/km
•   Labour force        52.8% ( readily available)
•   Age dependency ratio   1:0.84
•   Economic dependency ratio      1:1.26
•   Rural –Urban Split        66.9:33.1
•   AGE DISTRIBUTION

AGE	% NO. OF PEOPLE
0-14	40.9
15-64	52.8
65+	6.3

LOCATION & SIZE

TOPOGRAPHY & DRAINAGE
•   Generally plain with rolling and undulating land surface
•   General land elevation is between 60m -300m above sea level
•   Highest point is a little over 300m above sea level
•   Falls within the Voltain basin
•   Major water bodies: Volta lake, Pru River, Nyomo, Tanfi and Nwansi
•   Rivers flows through West of the District
•   Area is well drained
•   Drainage is generally dendritic.

SOIL
Good soils developed under Savanna vegetation.

   Belong to the “ground water lateritic soil”
   Formed over the voltain shale and granite.
   Classified under the Damongo-Murugu/Ejura-Seni compound. Kowani-Kasele/Kpelesawgu-Limo compound, and Kpalsawgu-Changnaili-Lima compound associations.
   Compound associations are fine textured, ranging from fine sandy loams and mostly poorly drained.
   Soils are agriculturally important and support cultivation of yam, cassava, maize, rice, groundnuts, garden eggs, okro, tomatoes, and pepper.

CLIMATE
•   District experience the tropical continental or interior savanna type of climate which is a modified form of the tropical continental or Wet Semi-Equatorial type.
•   One major rainfall regime.
•   Major rains:     July   –   October
•   Minor rains:     April         –   June
•   Annual rainfall:     1400mm – 1800mm
•   Mean monthly temperature ranges from 30 0C to 24 0C
•   Mean annual temperature ranges between 26.50C and 27.20C
•   Hottest months: Between March and April (30 0C – 40 0C)
•   Falls under the influence of North-East trade winds (Hamattan)
•   Climatic conditions are unstable in the District
•   Prolonged dry season between November and March/ April
•   Sunny conditions occur for most parts of the year
•   Relative humidity – Highest: 75-80% in wet seasons; lowest: 70-72% in dry season.

VEGETATION
•   Vegetation types consist of grassland, wooded savanna or tree savanna and ‘fringe forest’
•   Interior wooded savanna (but not typical due to its transitional nature) or tree savanna.
•   Trees such as the Baobab, Dawadawa, Acacia and the Shea butter are found in the zone
•   Trees are few and scattered along the margins of the Moist Deciduous Forest where trees often grow quite close together.
•   Grasses grow tussocks and can reach a height of 10ft or more

OTHERS
• About 65% of the economically active population are engaged in agriculture
• Average farm size is a hectare per farmer

Specialization & comparative advantage
Specialization in the agricultural sector can be observed in three main sectors.
i.   Animal Husbandry/poultry production
ii.   Food/vegetable production
iii.   Fisheries
DEMOGRAPHY
•   Population            98,077 (2008 estimated by Ghana Statistical Service)
i.   Males       49,886
ii.   Females   48,191   (Source – PDA)
•   Growth rate        3.6%
•   Density       42.8 persons/km
•   Labour force        52.8% ( readily available)
•   Age dependency ratio   1:0.84
•   Economic dependency ratio      1:1.26
•   Rural –Urban Split        66.9:33.1
•   Average household size      5.6 persons
•   Average annual income   GHC288.00
i.   Residents with Basic education    47%
ii.   Secondary education       10.6%
iii.   Tertiary education      0.4%
iv.   Illiteracy rate        41.6%
v.   Literacy rate        58.4%
•   AGE DISTRIBUTION

LIVESTOCK

Animal husbandry/poultry production

Livestock production practice is subsistence farming
Main animals reared: Cattle, Sheep and Goats

Animals census (2009)

No. of cattle	No. of sheep	No. of goats
9,893	7,663	4,320

CROPS

Food/vegetable production

Major food crops cultivated are yam, cassava, maize, groundnut and rice.
Major industrial crops produced are mango, cashew and teak
Major vegetables cultivated are tomatoes, pepper and okro
Main farming practice is shifting cultivation on mono and mixed cropping bases.
Farmers depend mainly on rainfall.
Bulk of agricultural produce is sold unprocessed.

Production level of major crops in the district (mt)-2010
CROP	MAIZE	RICE	CASSAVA	YAM	G/NUTS
Area Cropped (Ha)	2,760	110	12,910	13,350	1,500
Yield (Mt/Ha)	1.90	1.70	13.29	18.00	1.40
Production (Mt)	5,244	187	171,574	240,300	2,100

PROGRAMMES

Livestock Development Project (LDP)
Northern Rural Growth Programme
RTIMP
Block Farming ( MOFA)

ACHIEVEMENTS

PROCESSED FISH PRODUCTION
The total processed fish (smoked & salted dried), captured as fresh fish weight equivalent that passed through the Yeji Market by the 3rd quarter of 2010 is shown in the table below.

Accumulated total landings in kilogrammes ( fresh fish equivalent of processed fish) at the Yeji weekly market– 2010
	Jan.	Feb.	March	April	May	June	July	Aug.	Sep.
Alestes	1,145	39,978	1,639	647	496	1,312	216	255	258
Bagrus/Aucheng	802	34,891	1,582	1,245	960	788	1,120	1,125	566
Chrysichthys	36,637	679,529	49,879	22,626	52,190	52,678	38,499	52,695	58,683
Citharinus	43	0	0	10,058	0	7	0	14	12
Clarias	492	22,540	868	439	944	893	754	456	273
Cynothrissa	16,651	268,314	11,714	7,141	10,715	7,867	6,799	10,246	9,873
Distichodus	0	1,295	75	815	0	18	35	64	142
Gymnarchus	0	131	0	33	0	0	0	–	100
Heterotis	15	5,016	98	53	118	0	94	66	154
Hydrocynus	0	4,771	28	0	0	129	58	132	59
Labeo	1,988	72,780	3,132	1,490	2,418	1,128	2,108	2,944	1,709
Lates	82	0	0	66	156	0	0	–	85
Mormyridae	291	7,031	369	238	961	470	451	303	328
Schilbeidae	799	12,801	633	448	2,043	3,654	4,399	3,432	550
Synodontis	906	124,759	2,515	835	2,717	1,566	990	2,833	3,123
Tilapia	27,372	475,159	50,508	21,493	28,350	34,156	31,607	32,017	26,141
Total	87,223	1,748,995	123,040	67,627	102,068	104,666	87,130	106,582	102,056

MARKET PRICES OF PROCESSED FISH
Monitoring of prices of processed fish (smoked & salted dry) is carried out in the Yeji Market on every Monday which constitute the main market day in the week (the market days start on Sunday and end on Tuesdays). The average price per kilogramme for the various species that were sampled during the third quarter of 2010 is shown in the table below.

Prices of Fish in Yeji market (GH¢/kg) – 3rd Quarter, 2010

Species	July		August		September		Average
Species	Smoked	Dried	Smoked	Dried	Smoked	Dried	Smoked	Dried
Alestes	4.82	1.45	4.89	2.80	–	2.68	5.40	2.13
Auch/Bagrus	4.84	1.33	7.25	2.82	5.50	3.00	7.43	2.63
Chrysichthys	3.88	–	3.17	1.16	3.55	2.75	4.33	2.38
Citharinus	9.09	–	7.27	–	–	–	4.00	–
Clarias	3.85	–	4.04	–	5.31	–	5.48	–
Cynothrissa	1.26	–	1.09	0.76	1.19	1.50	1.36	1.36
Distichodus	5.39	–	5.49	–	4.84	–	4.97	2.84
Gymnarchus	–	–	7.69	–	10.00	–	9.81	–
Heterotis	–	7.06	7.81	2.00	–	2.27	–	4.98
Hydrocynus	6.39	–	4.67	1.67	–	–	7.23	–
Labeo	4.22	–	5.17	2.00	6.52	1.61	5.72	2.81
Lates	–	–	4.31	1.25	–	–	–	4.12
Mormyridae	2.00	0.92	4.81	–	–	–	5.23	3.10
Schibeidae	2.33	1.40	2.79	1.29	–	–	2.99	–
Synodontis	1.80	1.33	2.62	–	3.57	–	3.21	–
Tilapiines	4.27	3.05	4.27	2.75	5.44	3.16	5.30	3.98

Monitoring of Illegal Fishing
Fisheries Regulations L I 1968 has now been passed. Enforcement of Fisheries Laws will resume as soon as education of the fishers on the regulations is carried out.

General Sanitation
Sanitation at the main Yeji Shore (Salt Town) is carried out by ZOOMLION Co. Ltd. Cleaning at other landing sites in the district is carried out by the fishers themselves and they appear quite clean.

AQUACULTURE

The only existing cage farm, Gideon Farms, is being threatened by flooding of the lake.

Ownership and Employment Status of Cage Farm in Pru District

GIDEON FARMS	MALE	FEMALE
OWNERSHIP	1	–
EMPLOYMENT	6	–

Stocking

Holding Facility	Total No.	Volume (m³)	Fish Species	Stocking Rate/ Cage
Cage	6	216 (6x6x6)	Tilapia	30,000

http://mofa.gov.gh/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/A-Team-Comprising-District-Assembly-Members-and-MOFA-Director-on-Visit-to-a-Flooded-Block-Farming-Community-1024x801.jpg 1024w, http://mofa.gov.gh/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/A-Team-Comprising-District-Assembly-Members-and-MOFA-Director-on-Visit-to-a-Flooded-Block-Farming-Community.jpg 1428w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 310px;">

A Team Comprising District Assembly Members and MOFA Director on Visit to a Flooded Block Farming Community

http://mofa.gov.gh/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Packaging-of-Fresh-Tilapia-at-Hutideke-for-transport-to-Accra1-1024x871.jpg 1024w, http://mofa.gov.gh/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Packaging-of-Fresh-Tilapia-at-Hutideke-for-transport-to-Accra1.jpg 1428w" sizes="(max-width: 270px) 100vw, 270px" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 280px;">

Packaging of Fresh Tilapia at Hutideke for transport to Accra

Pru

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