Agriculture sector still remains rural and rudimentary, new survey reveals

The Ghana Census of Agriculture (GCA), has revealed that agricultural activities in the country still remains rural and rudimentary with little innovation and modernization.

The survey report was officially launched by the president on Monday, October 20, 2020.

According to the survey conducted between 2017 and 2018, most agricultural holders use traditional tools and equipment for production whereas the use of modern tools and equipment such as tractors, shellers, power tillers, hatchery/incubator, meat processing equipment and milking equipment are negligible.

The Sector, is characterized by the consumption of own produce where production is largely small-scale with the majority of parcels of land used for the cultivation of crops smaller than 2 acres. While fertilizer is not used by most holders, the use of pesticides is highly prevalent among holders. Crop cultivation is predominantly dependent on rain and mortality in livestock is high.

The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) stated in the report that “…the youth, generally, find agribusiness unattractive”.  Out of a total of 2,158,697 agricultural holders surveyed, just about a quarter (519,788) are youth.

The findings show that the level of education among agricultural holders is low. Nine in ten of persons aged 15 years or older engaged in agriculture have either never attended school or only attained basic education.

“About 87 percent of agricultural holders have either basic education (44.0%) or no formal education (43.1%). Majority of females (52.6%) have never attended school. Seven in ten persons engaged in agriculture are holders with higher proportion of males than females”.

Furthermore, the survey reveals male dominant in the sector. Agricultural holders who are males, are about 2.6 times as high as females. Out of a total of is 2,158,697 agricultural holders surveyed, 1,551,265 of them were males and the remaining 607,432 were females. This means that 72 percent of people engaged in agriculture are males.

On the other hand, a total of 16,919 institutions are engaged in agriculture of which, 62.9 percent are in rural areas. The institutions engage 380,248 persons who are directly involved in agricultural activities of which 63.7 percent (242,076) are males and 74.9 percent are in rural areas.

Agricultural activities

 The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) stated that, agricultural activities for both households and institutions, are mostly the cultivation of arable and tree crops, and livestock rearing.

“Three in ten (30.2%) of persons aged 15 years or older in agricultural households and 11.8 percent of agricultural institutions are engaged in at least two different agricultural activities”.

Furthermore, about two-thirds (65.7%) of holders in agricultural households mainly cultivate arable crops, close to a third (30.9%) grow tree crops and only 3.0 percent are engaged in livestock rearing. The proportion of agricultural institutions cultivating arable crops is 60.9 percent, tree crops 29.7 percent and livestock rearing 19.3 percent.

“Agricultural activities of both households and institutions are predominantly rural”.

Agricultural practices

 The GSS noted in the report that, the most common type of land tenure arrangement used by both male and female holders in both urban and rural areas for the production of crops and forest trees is ownership through either freehold (52.2%) or inheritance (23.0%) which together constitute 75.2 percent of all parcels.

 For institutions, ownership through freehold (64.0%) and inheritance (11.3%) constitute 75.3 percent of the type of land tenure arrangements.

“However, most holders including institutions do not have any documentation covering the land tenure arrangements. Only 12.9 percent of land parcels used for crop and forest tree production by households and 33.7 percent by institutions have complete documentation”, the GSS said.

The finding further shows that more than half (56.7%) of land parcels used for the production of crops and forest trees are small (less than 2 acres), with a higher proportion (71.4%) of parcels belonging to females being less than 2 acres.

The 2017/18 GCA is the fourth to be conducted since 1950. The second census was conducted in 1970, 20 years after the initial GCA, and the third occurred 15 years later in 1985. Carried out 33 years after the third census of agriculture, the 2017/18 GCA was the first to include agricultural institutions.

The 2017/18 GCA was also the first electronic census where the Computer-Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) technique was deployed in the collection of data on households and institutions engaged in agricultural activities nationwide.