EFFECTS OF ARTISANAL SMALL-SCALE MINING ON HOUSEHOLD WELFARE: PERCEPTIONS AND COPING STRATEGIES OF FARM HOUSEHOLDS IN ASUTIFI NORTH DISTRICT IN THE AHAFO REGION.

Abstract

In Ghana, both legal and illegal artisanal small-scale mining (ASM) activities have been described as a headache, a threat, and a problem that needs the search for and execution of a long-term solution. To some scholars, ASM is a source of livelihood destruction in mining communities hence ASM activities can be likened to the “the resource curse thesis.” On the contrary, others argued that, ASM potentials in the area of wealth creation and employment makes it an important livelihood activity with better welfare implications compared to agriculture. With opinions on the effects of ASM on household welfare in mining areas divided, this study looked into farmers' perceptions of ASM's effects, as well as the adoption of coping strategies and their determinants, and how these coping strategies affect the welfare of farm households in the Asutifi North District. Though there are many studies in Ghana about ASM, the focus has been on the environmental and health ramifications of ASM operations. There is a chronic dearth of empirical research and literature on the various coping strategies that farm households are using to deal with the negative effects of ASM. The study was conducted to fill this gap and add to knowledge. Primary data collected from 317 respondents in the District through two stage sampling was used for this study. The perceived effects of ASM on key welfare variables such as food security, children's education, job creation, access to potable drinking water, housing condition among others were studied using descriptive statistics. Over 80% of welfare indicators, including but not limited to food security, food consumption, water quality, access to land, access to farm labor, children's education, housing conditions, and others, deteriorated moderately or significantly, according to the study, whereas income and employment generation were the only welfare indicators that improved moderately among households. Also, multivariate probit model was used to estimate the determinants of adoption of coping strategies by farm households in the study area. The results from the descriptive statistics of the adoption of coping strategies reveal that majority (75%) of households adopted coping strategies such as diversification (36.08%), social networking (34.18%), land reclamation (31.01%), borrowing (31.01%), dependence on market for food (30.38%) and resettlement to other communities (29.11%). Furthermore, the results from multivariate probit model reveal age, household size, sex, level of education, access to credit, farm size, extension visits, total household income, membership of FBO among others as being the main drivers of households’ adoption decision. Finally, endogenous treatment effect model was used to estimate the effects of coping strategies adoption on household welfare with Household Food Insecurity Score (HFIS) and Consumption Expenditure used as the outcome variables. The ATET results show that, farm households who adopted at least three coping strategies had higher consumption expenditure and were less food insecure compared to non adopters. However, households who adopted at least four coping strategies had comparatively lower consumption expenditure and were more food insecure than their counterparts who did not adopt at least four coping strategies. As per findings, the study recommends that farm households in mining communities to prioritize and encourage the formation of cooperatives and FBOs to ensure improved access to joint resources that can be used by farm households to cope with ASM induced shocks, provide credit facilities to farm households in mining areas so that they can effectively cope with ASM induced shocks and sustain their livelihoods and finally the need to encourage land reclamation measures.