This section looks at the natural and human sub-systems of the system-to-be-governed. The section on the natural system describes the Tano-Offin plantation regime and the one on the human system looks at the socio-economic characteristics of the inhabitants of Chirayaso and Kunsu-Nyamebekyere No. 3 and the benefits they derive from MTS.
Table 8.1 MTS beneficiary communities and planted areas under the Tano-Offin plantation regime (2002-2007)
MTS beneficiary communities
Forest area planted (ha) per year coupe1 Total area planted (ha) / years 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2002-2007 Chirayaso - - 5 17 30 30 82 Kunsu-Nyamebekyere No. 3 10 10 10 - 30 10 70 Asuntaa - - 5 5 12 - 22 Kramokrom - - 12.5 11 20 - 43.5 Desireagya - - 10 10 15 - 35 Kwaswotire - - 5 8 11 - 24 Akantansu 23* 26 20 22 24 15 130 Boafaso - - - 10 Awesasu - - - - 13 - 13 Nyinahin - - - - 15 - 15 Adiembra 10 3 4 11 16 - 44 Mpasaaso 1 20* 5 15 - 25 - 65 Mpasaaso 2 10* 10 10 20 38 - 88 Oforikrom 10 3 - 10 10 - 33 Koojourkrom - 2 10** 10 10 - 32 Domeabra - - 32 - - - 32 Awaduwa 10 10 - 10 10 12 52 Nyinanfu 10 5 10 - - 10 35 Bonkrom 10 10 10 10 17 21 78 Dotiem Kunsu 10* 10* 10* 12* 30 20 82 Enyehwee - - - - 30 - 30 Saakrom - 10 10* 10 22 20 72 Apenemadi - 10 10 - - - 20 Wioso 20 - - - 20 Adadekrom 30 3 5 - - - 38 Ofirikrom - 3 - - - - 3 Oseikrom 10 2 - - - - 12
* Indicates that a community did not meet the target; ** Indicates that a community exceeded the target. Key: A dash (-) in the table may imply that:
1. A community did not join the MTS that year.
2. The community performance in the previous year was not good enough, as a result of which it was not al- lowed to take part again.
3. The survival rates of the planted trees were low and the farmers had to undertake beating up (i.e. filling up gaps with new seedlings) in that year’s coupe before a new area was allocated to them to plant trees and food crops.
4. There is no more degraded area within the range of a community.
Sources: Agyapong, Nkawie FSD plantations unit, (pers. comm. 2008).
The natural system: The Tano-Offin Reserve plantation regime
As outlined in Chapter 4, the Tano-Offin Forest Reserve is located in the Nkawie Forest District and falls under two administrative districts: the Ahafo Ano South and Atwima Mponua in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The reserve is surrounded by 41 villages whose inhabitants partly depend on the forestland and resources of the reserve for their livelihood. Since the MTS became operational in the reserve in 2002, twenty-seven vil- lages have been involved in the scheme (see Table 8.1) of which two were selected for this study. They are Kunsu-Nyamebekyere No. 3 and Chirayaso (Figure 8.1). The crite- ria for their selection are discussed in Chapter 3.
1 Coupe is a term mostly used for plantation forest to denote the operational unit of about sixteen hec- tares for either establishing plantations or annual harvesting in an area.
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Figure 8.1 Map of Tano-Offin Forest Reserve showing the study communities
The plantation regime within the forest reserve (mostly located in the production management area) consists of various compartments2 in the reserve. Each of the MTS beneficiary communities are given degraded areas in a specific compartment with the aim being to achieve a given target (see Appendix 5 for details).
The official report of the Nkawie District indicates that the number MTS of farmers differs per year. For instance Chirayaso had 170 MTS farmers in 2006 and 100 in 2007 (see Appendix 5). An analysis, based on the official records, of the MTS beneficiary communities around the Tano-Offin reserve and the area planted is presented in Table 8.1. Figure 8.2 shows the trend of area planted (ha) in the two study sites over the years based on the data from Table 8.1.
From Figure 8.2, it can be seen that land allocation to the farmers in Chirayaso in- creased from five hectares in 2004 to thirty hectares in 2007, whereas the degraded for- est area allocated to MTS farmers in Kunsu-Nyamebekyere No. 3 has steadily increased since 2002. Personal communication with the FSD official revealed that allocation of a degraded land area depends on (i) the interest and willingness of the participating peo- ple in a community; (ii) the availability of land within the range of the communities; and (iii) the performance of the MTS farmers in the previous year(s).
In the case of the small area (five hectares) given to Chirayaso at the onset, the FSD official revealed that, when the MTS was introduced to the inhabitants, not many people showed any interest in participating. In view of that, a small area was given to the few people who were willing to form an MTS group. However, when the inhabitants real- ised the food crop benefits the participated farmers are deriving, they also decided to join, which resulted in an increase in the land area over the years.
2 Within the on reserve areas, the production areas are partitioned into numbered compartments (main units) of 128 ha each.
Figure 8.2 Trend in the area planted under the MTS by farmers in Chirayaso and Kunsu-
Nyamebekyere No. 3 from 2002-2007
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
MTS plantations year coupe
A re a pl a nt e d in he c ta re s Chirayaso 5 17 30 30 Kunsu- Nyamebekyere No.3 10 10 10 30 10 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Source: Nkawie FSD plantations unit (2008).
As is shown later in this chapter, denying some people entry to the MTS scheme re- sulted in a demonstration in Chirayaso in 2009 (see also Box 8.2).
In the case of Kunsu-Nyamebekyere No. 3, the FSD official revealed that the major- ity of the inhabitants had shown an interest in the MTS from the beginning because they live very close to the reserve and have limited farmlands. The steady increase in forest land being allocated over the years corresponds to the adult population in the village. The significant increase in land allocated in 2006 can be attributed to the fact that more people living outside the community took part in the scheme and by the excellent per- formance of the MTS farmers in the previous years, as a result of which farmers were allowed to work on more than the usual one acre plot (Agyapong, Nkawie FSD planta- tions unit, pers. comm. 2008).
The human system
This section deals with the human system and addresses the socioeconomic characteris- tics of the respondents and livelihood benefits of the MTS respectively.
– Socio-economic characteristics of the respondents
Chirayaso and Kunsu-Nyamebekyere No. 3 have an estimated adult population of 770 and 240 respectively of whom 103 and 109 individuals were involved in the study re- spectively. Generally, the inhabitants of the study communities engage in crop farming as their major occupation. Cocoa, pineapple and oil palm are commonly grown as cash crops on family or individual farmlands, whereas short-rotation food crops are culti- vated in the forest reserve under the MTS scheme or are integrated with cocoa and other perennial crops on farmlands.
Table 8.2 shows that 54% of the respondents are men and 46% are women. The ma- jority of the respondents (46%) in both villages were in the age range of 18-35, while
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19% were in the age range of 53 years and above. In terms of religion and education, Christianity dominated with 91%, whilst more than half of the respondents (54%) had been educated to middle and junior high school level. Fifteen per cent of the respon- dents in Kunsu-Nyamebekyere No. 3 have no education, compared to 5% in Chirayaso. Generally speaking, migrants (59%) exceeded the proportion of indigenes with more migrants recorded in Kunsu-Nyamebekyere No. 3 (69%) than in Chirayaso (31%). The period of stay in the villages by the migrants ranged from one to 58 years. Most of the respondents migrated across the districts of the ten regions of Ghana with the majority (79%) coming from the Ashanti Region. The respondents from Kunsu-Nyamebekyere No. 3 included two non-Ghanaians from Burkina Faso who were participating in the MTS. Thirty-four per cent of the respondents were engaged in a single occupation while the majority (63%) had multiple occupations, with 3% being not engaged in any occu- pation at all. The MTS was the lead occupation (82%) of the total respondents in the two villages.
Among the MTS respondents, 26% engage in it as a single occupation and 75% combined with other occupations such as off-reserve farming, trading, handicrafts and government employment (Table 8.2). In both communities, few respondents (2%) stated that they were engaged in chainsaw lumbering as their single occupation, while others combined it with the MTS. The common trees planted by the farmers under the MTS scheme (with food crops such as plantain, cocoyam, vegetables and maize) included the exotics Cedrella odorata (cedrella) and Tectona grandis (teak). The indigenous ones were Terminalia Superba (ofram) and Entandrophragma spp. (African mahogany). – Benefits derived from the MTS
As the major occupation within the two villages, the MTS has contributed to the liveli- hoods of the inhabitants, especially those who participate in the scheme. According to the respondents of Chirayaso, access to farmland to cultivate food crops was a problem prior to the introduction of the MTS. The available family lands are under cocoa culti- vation, a major cash crop in Ghana, resulting in food crop scarcity especially once the canopy of the cocoa farm has closed. The inhabitants of the two villages reported food for consumption and sale to obtain cash income as the major benefits they derived from the MTS for almost a decade. Some key benefits that have improved the wellbeing of the MTS communities are: (i) employment in the form of farm labour and micro- enterprises (notably petty trading) that could be established thanks to the revenues from the MTS plots; (ii) improvement in school attendance of their children; (iii) quality housing; and (iv) food security throughout the year. Without the MTS the respondents asserted that many hardships would have forced young people to migrate to urban areas where unemployment is high or would possibly have led them to engage in illicit farm- ing in the forest reserve.
Photos 8.1–8.3 show some of the MTS benefits that the farmers demonstrated to the research team, notably the food crops derived and building constructed with revenues from the food crops cultivated under the MTS. For a more detailed analysis of liveli- hood benefits from the MTS see Insaidoo et al. (forthcoming). Some also referred to the benefits in conversations as presented in Box 8.1.
Table 8.2 Socio-economic characteristics of the respondents (N=212)3
Variables Frequency (n) and percentage (%) of respondents Chirayaso (n=103) Kunsu- Nyamebekye No. 3 (n=109) Total (N) Percentage (%) Gender Male 54 60 114 54 Female 49 49 98 46 Age range 18-35 50 47 97 46 36-53 34 40 74 35 53+ 19 22 41 19 Religion Christianity 97 95 192 91 Islam 4 6 10 5 Traditionalist 1 2 3 1 Free thinker 1 6 7 3 Education Post- Secondary/Secondary 14 4 18 8
Middle school/Junior High School 65 49 114 54 Primary 7 17 24 11 Informal 9 5 14 7 No education 11 31 42 20 Origin Indigenes 65 23 88 41 Migrants 38 86 124 59 Occupation Single occupation
Modified taungya system (MTS) 16 27 43 20* Farming in off-reserve 10 10 20 9 Others4 4 2 6 3 Chainsaw milling 3 1 4 2 Multiple occupations MTS and off-reserve f farming 48 47 95 45* MTS and others5 17 19 36 17*
Off-reserve farming and others 6
2 - 2 1
No occupation 3 3 6 3
* The calculation of the percentages of MTS farmers in the table was based on the total respondents (n=212).
Source Field survey, 2010.
3 Of 212 respondents from Table 8.1, 137 responded to questions for Chapter 9 (see Chapter 3 on meth- odology).
4 Included trading, farm labourer, hairdressing, pastoral job, worker of administrator of stool lands. 5 Included civil service employees (mainly teachers), pensioners, artisans (or handicraft workers) and
chainsaw operators. 6
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Photos 8.1 – 8.3 Tangible benefits local people derive from MTS in Chirayaso village
Photo 8.1 Food crops from MTS farms provide local communities with cash and non-cash income.
Photo 8.2 Madame Beatrice, a proud owner of this house that she ould afford thanks to her participation in the MTS in Chirayaso from 2004-2010.
Source: Field survey, 2010.
Photo 8.3 Timber trees established in the MTS represent future income for the farmers who are entitled to 40% of the revenue. Five per cent of the value will go to the village where plantations were established.
Box 8.1: Local peoples’ views on the contributions of the MTS to their
livelihoods
Kunsu-Nyamebekyere No. 3 village
‘I couldn’t get any land to grow crops and this caused me economic hardship. How- ever, since joining the MTS I have been able to grow crops and get money to sup- port my family.’
Opayin Kwame ‘I used to be a ‘by-day’ (farm day labourer), couldn’t pay my children’s school fees, and was wallowing in poverty, but since I joined the MTS I have been able to pay the fees of my male son up to the senior secondary level. Things have changed for the better ever since.’
Kwasi Foso
‘I come from Kumasi (Santase) and came into the community in 1994. I own 6 acres of land on which I have planted cocoa and intercropped it with food stuff. When the canopy closed it was difficult to grow food crops. I joined the MTS from 2002-2009 and participated 5 times. I used money from the MTS to pay labourers to weed the cocoa farms, to attend funerals and to build a two-bedroom house.’
Maame Abena ‘Before the inception of the MTS, the community members could not pay their contri- butions to community projects but now they are doing well thanks to the MTS. Many of my people have been able to use money from the sale of food crops to erect ce- ment block housing in the village. Furthermore, community members are able to take care of their children and are able to pay for the repairs of the community borehole.’
Chief of Nyamebekyere Chirayaso village
‘As a woman, I have been able to build a house with the proceeds from the food crop component under the MTS and I have been able to educate my children to the sen- ior secondary school level. If the MTS is going to be stopped, I will not know how to cater for my children and myself.’
Madam Beatrice ‘I used to be a ‘by-day’ (farm day labourer) and was unable to feed my children and myself. Since participating in the MTS, I have been able to feed the family and pro- vide for my children’s needs. If the MTS were to be stopped, it would be difficult for me to survive since I have no farmland’
Sister Ama ‘I am now able to enrol some of my children into apprenticeship and cater for their daily needs’.
Nana C.K.
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