Return to search

Effects of illegal small scale mining on crop production in Amansei Central, Ghana

In recent years there have been reports on increase of illegal mining activities and several factors contribute to the influx. Although illegal mining to an extent is a source of job for the unemployed folks in Ghana, their activities have dire effects on crops production and environmental health. This study investigates effects of illegal mining of crop production in the Amansei Central district of Ghana. The major primary source data for the study were farm and galamsey household survey and interviews. The study revealed that 83% of males and 17% of females are engaged are engaged in galamsey operations whereas 45% of males and 55% of females are engaged in farming. The contribution of men and women in crop production were not significant (p>0.05). The contribution of men and women engaged in galamsey operation were also not significant (p>0.05). The portion of change in cultivated farm land size showed 53% of no change in farm size, 21% decrease in farm size and 26% increase in farm size. The difference between initial farm size acquired and current farm size under cultivation is significant (p< 0.05). Regarding pollution of water for food cropping, 84% of farmers indicated in-land water source is polluted whereas 16% of farmers have not had problems with illegal mining polluting their agricultural water sources. For the portion of natives and non-natives engaged in farming, the study revealed 68% of natives are engaged in galamsey activities whereas 32% are non- natives. Major crop produced in Ghana over ten years production appears differently. The study observed that maize, cassava and plantain production significantly change over every decade. Effective political and communal wills stemmed from policies need to be exercised to eradicate galamsey activities in rural communities of Ghana. And efforts to train and create jobs in rural communities of Ghana for the rising youth population should be prioritised.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:nusl.cz/oai:invenio.nusl.cz:362944
Date January 2016
CreatorsOsei Poku, Naomi
Source SetsCzech ETDs
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/masterThesis
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess

Page generated in 0.0023 seconds