ASSESSING THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF MINING ON AGRICULTURE IN ASUTIFI DISTRICT OF THE BRONG AHAFO REGION, GHANA

Abstract

Whilst the mining industry has helped to stimulate economic growth of the country through employment generation, payment of taxes and royalties and other corporate social responsibilities, its activities have also adversely impacted a lot on the environment, social and other livelihood sources like agriculture in their areas of operation. The mining sector often undermines the performance of the agricultural sector in agrarian areas through the acquisition of viable agricultural lands as well as shift in the labour trend in favor of mining activities. The study therefore assessed the socio economic effects of mining on agriculture in the Asutifi district of the Brong Ahafo region. The production levels of some selected crops and income levels of farmers in the study communities were estimated. The extent to which the mining activity affected the size of farm lands and labour supply to agricultural production in the study area were examined. Structured questionnaires were administered for the survey alongside the use of secondary data. Agricultural production levels decreased over the past years as a result of mining activities. The income levels of farmers decreased with 52% of the respondents earning not more than $1,500 a year. Scarcity of land with increased cost in land acquisition, labour shortages and higher wage demands due to the competition from mining activities was discovered as a major challenge to farmers and agricultural production in general. Stable market and producer prices should be set for other major crops just like cocoa to improve farmer’s earnings. Also, concessions in the acquired area that are yet to be developed or mined from the 2,992 hectares of land, could be temporally released to the respective farmers for farming until such a time that those lands would be needed by the mining firms.