Boundaries and Location:
Birim North District on the north, Ashanti Region on the West, Birim South District on the South and Atiwa and Kwabibirem District on the longitude 1o10W and 1o OE.
Land Size: – 667.17sqkm.
PRINCIPAL NATURAL RESOURCES: These are timbers, Quartzite and huge clay deposits at Akim Ofoase and many other sites and high potential for surface gold mining.
MAJOR STAKE HOLDERS IN AGRICULTURE:
1. Ghana Oil Palm Development Corporation (GOPDC)
(A) LAND USE DISTRIBUTION
The table below shows main land use pattern in the District
| Land Use | Area Km2 | % Total |
| Forest / Water Bodies | 183.7 | 14.9 |
| GOPDC plantation (oil palm) | 25.3 | 2.1 |
| Farm for other crops | 22.1 | 1.5 |
| Settlements, Roads, Wasteland, agriculture use | 1018.9 | 81.5 |
| Total | 1250 | 100 |
NOTE: FOREST: Forest Resources were created within the District between 1928 and 1935. These cover 185.7 km2 of land area. (15%).
VEGETATION: The Akyemansa District falls within the semi – deciduous rain forest zone of the country. The vegetation is mainly characterized by tall trees with evergreen undergrowth and has an abundance of economic trees.
SOIL:
The soils of the district can be classified into five groups. These are
1. Swedru – Naba / Ofin Compound Association
2. Atwea – Atukrom – Asikuma – Ansum Compound Association
3. Juaso – Manso – Debia Association
4. Birim – Chichiwere Association
1. The Swedru – Nsaba Compound Association is the predominant soil formation found in the district. There are soil developed over granite and can be found around Pankese in the Northern Part of the district. It also stretches to South of Otwereso and Westward to Abenase.
This compound association consist of two i.e. Swedru – Nsaba Association and Ofin Association. The latter being developed from the transported products of the erosion of the farmer. The Swedru – Nsaba series are high in magnesia and potash,and very good soils for tree and arable crops and are particularly excellent for Cocoa. Ofin soils are unsuitable for tree crops and mostly used for growing dry season vegetable, sweet potatoes, sugarcane and rice.
2. Atukrom Soil Series – Consist of dark-brown slightly humus, salty, clay –joam to soil overlying reddish brown to red silky clay joam subsoils. Generally, these two soil series are infertile because of strong acidity and low base status. The soils are recommended for coffee, oil palm, other tree crops and forestry.
3. Juaso – Manso Association can be found around Akokoaso stretching to Adwobue.
4. Bekwai series are red, well drained and are suitable for the production of a wide variety of tree and arable crops. The Oda series also occupy flat fairly extensive land adjacent to rivers and streams and are well suited for mechanized, irrigated rice farming.
5. Birim series are moderately well drained, deep and easy to work with machines. They occur on almost flat land where susceptibility to erosion is virtually nil or very slight. They are suitable for a wide range of tree and arable crops. Chichhiwere series are generally considered bad for tree crops.
The table shows summary of the soil characteristics and their suitability for agriculture.
| SOIL CLASSIFICATION | CHARACTERISTICS | SOIL CAPABILITY |
| Nsaba – Swedru
/Ofin Compound |
Day soils that occur at lower elevations of sloping hills.
|
Tree and arable crops especially cocoa.
Dry Season vegetables, sweet potatoes, rice, sugarcane. |
| 2/ Juaso Manso Debia Association. | Yellowish brown-dark brown soils
Developed over Tarkwarian |
Oil Palm |
| 3/ Atewa – Atukrom
Asikuma Compound |
Medium hearvy textured non-concretionary
i/ red or brown soils developed over schist whickers. Ii/ Dark brown salty clay Joam overlying reddish brown red salty clay Koaming Subsoil. |
|
| Bekwai – Oda Association | i/ Red soils developed over lower Birimian rocks.
ii/ Salty clay loamy soil which occupy fairly extensive flat lands adjacent to streams and rivers.0 |
Cocoa, Coffee, Citrus, Oil Palm, Avocado Peas Banana
Pawpaw, vegetable sugarcane, pineapple and mechanized irrigated rice. |
| Birim – Chichiwere Association | i/ Moderately well drained and deep soils that are easy to work with.
Deep pole brown to yellowish brown fire sandy soils. |
Tree and arable crops
Bad for tree crops. |
CLIMATE: Wet semi equatiorial climate zone that experiences substantial amounts of precipitation. It is characterized by a bi-modal rainy season with rainfall between 1500mm and 2000mm reaching its maximum during the two peak periods of May – June and September – October yearly. Temperatures average at 25oc maximum Relative humidity of about 55% is characteristic of the district.
TOPOGRAPHY: The District is mostly undulating and lies within the semi – deciduous forest zone. The topography is distinctly hilly. These areas have annual rainfall range at 1,500-2000mm.
RIVERS AND STREAMS: The District is drained mainly by the Pra River which forms the Western boundary and the Birim River which is a major tributary of the Pra River and which also forms the Southern boundary of the District. Several smaller rivers flow into these two major rivers..
FARMING SYSTEMS: Mixed cropping – is predominant for both major staples and cash crops and inter-cropping ..
LAND TENURE SYSTEMS: These include:
i. Private ownership,
ii. Family –Land,
iii. State –.
EMPLOYMENT STRUCTURE
The table depicts the trend of employment level over the years indicated
| Year | Employed (%) | Unemployed (%) | Others |
| 2008 | 81.2 | 2.9 | 15.9 |
| 2009 | 74.0 | 4.9 | 21.1 |
| 2010 | 97.3 | 2.7 | – |
Source of Household Income
| Source | Average Income
GH¢ |
Contribution to District | Remarks |
| Agric | 114,462.60 | 39.4% | |
| Industry | 24,329.40 | 8.6% | Household |
| Commerce | 54,882.60 | 19.0 | Expenditure is 58.3% |
| Service | 66,481.50 | 23.0 | On food. 20.8% |
| More than One | 28,572.90 | 10.0 | On education. 8.3% |
| Average income for month | 57,745.80 | 100.0 | On clothing. 4.2% on health |
Baseline survey – 2008
AGRICULTURAL OUTPUT
CROP SUB-SECTOR
The Akyemansa District is predominantly agricultural, though there are other small scale enterprises such as palm oil extraction, gari progressing, carpentry, gin distillery works and mining explorations. The economic base is therefore dominated by agricultural activities. About 72% of the economic labour force are engaged in agriculture and even for non-agricultural workers about 74% are engaged in the agricultural sector as a Secondary occupation.
PRINCIPAL AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE
TREE CROPS: The District has long been associated with the production of cash crops such as oil palm, cocoa, citrus and coffee.
OIL PALM: Is widely produced with about 2331 holders and 32,286 hectares of land under cultivation. An estimated annual crop production of 20, 067 metric tons was recorded for year 2008 involving 3,633 farms.
INDUSTRIAL CROPS: These include Sugarcane and pineapple. These are grown in pockets in the district to generate income for farmers.
ROOTS & TUBERS: These are yam, cocoyam , cassava and sweet potatoes. With the exception of sweet potato, the rest are major staples cultivated in the district.
CEREALS: Rice and Maize: these are produced in large quantities as a result of the new technology and assistance being given to rice and maize farmers.
Inland Valley Rice Development Project (IVRDP) is located at Abenase, Ayirebi and Kofi Nimo. Farmers are given assistance in the form of loan through ADB and inputs such as fertilizer, seed and chemicals. Improved seeds such as jasmine 85 and Wita 7 are cultivated with high yields such i.e 47.5 bags / hectare – paddy (unpolished).
Beside this, farmers outside the valleys, also cultivates the local rice and others grow the improve varieties.
FRUITS & VEGETABLES: These arables are produce in high quantities which fetch farmers a good revenue. These are Tomato, pepper, okro, egg plant and water melon.
Area planted to select food crops (ooha)
Production of major crops – Akyemansa District (metric tons)
Area planted to other Crops (2010
| Area (000HA) | ||||||
| Crop | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |
| Cocoa | 12487 | |||||
| Oil Palm | 11316 | |||||
| Citrus | 8,515.5 | |||||
CROP FOREST
Crop yield studies conducted in the district indicated the following:
| Crop | Estimated No. of Holders | Average Cropped per Holders (in acre) | Normal Yield per Crop (mt/acre) | Estimated Crop production |
| Maize | 32,050.00 | 22,114.5 | 1.78.00 | 39,363.8 |
| Rice (Pady) | 8,290.00 | 1,823.8 | 2.3 | 1,194.00 |
| Cassava | 32,921.00 | 11,193.1 | 8.4 | 94,022.00 |
| Cocoyam | 15,787.00 | 6,630.5 | 8.87 | 59,011.00 |
| Yam | 11,114.00 | 3,889.9 | 1.98 | 7,702.00 |
| Plantain | 28,829.00 | 13,549.6 | 4.8 | 65,038.00 |
| Cocoa | 24,974.00 | 12,487.0 | 57.20 | 74,257.00 |
| Oil Palm | 19,853.00 | 11,316.2 | 47.82 | 54,257.00 |
| Citrus | 20,275.00 | 8,515.5 | 35.64 | 30,349.00 |
FISHERIES SUB SECTOR
Five (5) newly constructed ponds of total surface area of 250sqm have been stocked. These are located at Akim Ofoase. Four (4) ponds are under rehabilitation to suit modern design and make record taking possible. These are at Ayirebi and Akokoaso
USE OF FARM INPUTS: A majority of farmers about (73%) use single farm implements such as hoe and cutlass. Only few available tractors are used to cart food produce to house and marketing centres.
OTHER SERVICE PROVIDERS
Number, Names and Location of FBOs
| NAME | LOCATION |
| Adom Women Association | Praso Kuma |
| Onyame Akwan | Akim Ofoase |
| Osom pa ye | Abenase |
| Adom Cooperative food farmers | Gyaha |
| Cocoa Society | Ofoase Kuma |
| Prince of Peace Farmers Association | Ayirebi |
Number and names of functional FBO’s
| Name of FBO | Location | Major Activities |
| Adom Rice Farmers | Abenase | Rice producers |
| Nyame Nnae Rice Farmer | Abenase | Rice producers |
| Enso Nyame Ye Farmers | Abenase | Rice producers |
| Ye Adwuma den | Akim Ofoase | Cocoa farmers |
| Odo na eye Farmers | Akim Ofoase | Cocoa Farmer |
| Yebi Boa Farmers Ass. | Akokoaso | Maize Farmers |
| Peace Farmers Ass. | Akokoaso | General Crops |
| Akokoaso Cassava growers Ass. | Akokoaso | Growing oil Palm |
| Odo Na ye | Adubiase | Producing of Cassava |
| Ayirebi Maluli Women | Ayirebi | Agro-Processing |
Land and type of support from District Assembly, NGO’s projects and other service providers.
| ORGANIZATION / AGENCY | SUPPORT / SERVICE |
| GOPDC | Provide inputs to farmers / extension service |
| KYEDUMA | Purchase of farmers produce – palm fruits |
NON TRADITIONAL AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES
Snail rearing and grass cutter production has gained recognizable importance during recent year, in communities like Adwafo, Kotokuom and Private, Individuals have supported beekeeping project in one (1) community namely Ayirebi.
Agriculture development is in the early stages. Five (5) newly constructed ponds of total surface area of 250sq in have been stocked. These are located at Ofoase, Akokoaso, Ayirebi and about two (2) old ponds are under rehabilitation to suit modern design and make record taking possible.
One community, Otwereso have embraced the National plantation development programme currently have a total of eighty seven (87) hectares of teak in place.
Road Network
Information on types of road network and length of road s is 182.7km. There are 101km of trunk road and 206km being feeder road. Most of the trunk road network is untarred.
AGRICULTURAL PROJECTS
1. Inland Valley Rice Project (IVRP)
2. Cocoa Hitech
3. Cocoa Mass Spraying
4. Maize Project
5. Plantain Tissue Manipulation Technology
6. Cowpea Demonstration
7. Cockerel Project
L// NON-AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES
| Non-Agricultural Activities | M % | F % |
| Mandays | 70 | 30 |
| Drying | 40 | 60 |
| Galamsey | 80 | 20 |
| Chop Bar Operating | 20 | 80 |
| Hair Dressing | – | 85 |
| Sewing | 45 | 55 |
| Teaching | 60 | 40 |
Average income of non-agricultural activities operators by gender.
SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE
Health
| TYPE | LOCATION |
| Clinic | Ayirebi |
| √ | Akim Ofoase |
| √ | Brenase |
| √ | Akokoaso |
| √ | Otwereso |
| √ | Abenase |
| √ | Anyinase |
| √ | Bontodiase |
| √ |
Apart from these clinics which serve the people in the localities, emengency cases are referred to nearby hospital i.e St Dominic’s Hospital, Akwatia, Holy Family Hospital Nkawkaw and Government Hospital Akim Oda. The distances are 36, 42 and 69km from district capitates.
AGRICULTURAL INFRASTRUCTURE
Fertilizer depots – Nil
Input retailing Shops
There has been insurgence of few agriculture inputs stores scattered in the District. For a reliable agriculture inputs, farmers rather purchase at exorbitant prices from nearby districts, which are Nkawkaw, Oda and Kade.
Tractor Service Centres – Nil
Storage facilities available (traditional and improved and communal or Private)
There are no Silos in the District. Farmers store their farm produce on barn and improved narrow ventilation cribs.
ENERGY, MACHINES, TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT
Sources of energy
The major sources of energy which farmers depend on for drying agricultural produce is Solar. Apart from this, electric energy, is another source of power which provide energy for the people in the District.
SOURCES OF WATER
Below is distribution of source of water by settlement
| Source of water | No. of Beneficiary Settlements | % total Settlement |
| Boreholes | 46 | 58.9 |
| Streams / Rivers | 17 | 21.8 |
| Hand dug wells. Mechanized Borehole | 8 | 10.2 |
| Pipe Borne | 5 | 6.4 |
| Dugout | 2 | 2.6 |
| Out of possible | 78 | 100 |