Introduction

Agriculture is a crucial sector for reducing poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) in Ghana where agriculture has been the mainstay of the economy. But the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has noted that despite the unquestionable importance of agriculture, it is arguably the least known sector of many economies in terms of hard facts and statistics (FAO, 2012). Any strategy geared towards reducing poverty and food insecurity must be based on timely and accurate information that can help to measure the impact of agricultural policies and programmes.

In the past, one of the major difficulties encountered when assessing men and women’s contribution to agricultural development was the non-availability of gender disaggregated data with respect to the roles of women and men in agricultural production.2010 PHC for the first time administered questionnaires for households in agriculture.Chapter discusses the households engaged in agricultural activities and the type of activities which include crop farming, tree growing, livestock rearing and fish farming.

Households in agriculture

Figure 7.1 shows agricultural households and non-agricultural households. The proportion of households in agriculture is 81.1 percent and non-agricultural households 18.9 percent. The picture is a true reflection of the Assin South District as it is made up of only rural communities.

Types of Farming Activities

81.1 percent of the households are engaged in agriculture. The proportion of households engaged in agriculture and into crop farming is 98.1 percent, while 38.9 percent is in livestock rearing. Households engage in tree planting and fish farming together account for only 0.9 percent. The district is entirely rural, hence the proportion the same as the district.

Types of livestock and other animals reared

There are a total of 191,051 livestock being reared by 10,489 keepers with average of 18.2 animals per keeper. As indicated in Table, the most predominant livestock reared in the district are chicken (63.0%), followed by goats (26.1%), sheep (10.3%). Snail, turkey, inland fishing and bee keeping are least practiced in the district.