Shai Osudoku, The Richest But The Poorest In Greater Accra-Part II

The last edition of the topic highlighted the level of poverty using empirical literature on the research conducted by the Ghana Statistical service. It was found out that Shai Osudoku is the poorest in the greater Accra Region despite the availability of a lot of natural resources.

The article highlighted the Chenku Waterfall, Shai Hills Stone Quarry, Shai Hills Game Reserve, the Dodowa Forest, the River Volta, and a very fertile agricultural land. This article highlight the agricultural resources of the district, and some of the interventions the District Assembly has intended doing to reduce the level of poverty or improve the lives of residents.

It is worth noting that, mango is one of the tree crops that is cultivated by the people of Shai Osudoku. Abdallah (2012), in his research report ‘Ghana National Mango Study’, said that the largest mango farmers association; ‘Yilo Krobo Mango Farmers Association’ has its farms scattered around Dodowa, Somanya and other districts that surround them.

He again said the Ministry Food and Agriculture (MOFA) has established mango nurseries in areas including Dodowa and its surroundings. Abdallah (2012) revealed that, Blue Skies a subsidiary of a UK company, purchases mangoes from Dodowa for its production.

Another company, Ebenut Company Limited also purchases mangoes from Dodowa and dries them before exporting them. It is argued that mangoes from Dodowa is one of the sweetest if not the sweetest.

Furthermore, the establishment of a mango factory in Dodowa area, would help to boost the mango farming industry greatly and provide a lot of economic relief for the people living in the area. The good news is that, one of the key focus areas in the 2015 Composite Budget of the Shai Osudoku District Assembly highlighted a Support for the establishment of juice processing industries for mangoes and pineapples.

This in no doubt will help to expand the economic avenues in the district and serve as a source of employment for the youth. But there are a lot of questions to be answered.

Is it just a policy statement to ignite hope for the people of Shai Osudoku? Where is the project going to be located and when will it be started? Has any company been awarded the contract to build the processing company? If yes which company is it? Is it a joint funding and if yes who are the partners? These are some questions that need lots of responses.

The constituency once upon a time was a producer of sugar, from the Asutsuare sugar factory because there was a mass production of sugar cane. But despite the collapse of the company, the agricultural lands are still fertile for the production of sugarcane on large scale.

This is an opportunity which can be explored to revive the Asutsuare sugar factory. The success of this will undoubtedly serve as a good economic opportunity for the nation as well as the residents of the area. The fact that Komenda sugar has been revived, indicates that the Asutsuare Sugar factory can also be revived to boost the national economy.

According to the 2010 PHC, District Analytical Report, the soil type around Dodowa, Ayikuma Doryumu, Kordiabe and Agomeda are loamy soils and are good for production of crops such as cassava, cocoyam, maize, pepper, okro and watermelon. Indeed the production of these crops serve as the major economic activity for majority of the people living in the area.

Another agricultural activity is rice cultivation. This is done mainly by the people of Asutsuare. According to an article on http://mofa.gov.gh/site/?page_id=1502, about 13,891,110 Kg of rice was harvested from about 3927 acres of land by May 2011. It is mainly cultivated in areas such as Asutsuare. According to the District Analytical Report, the soil around these areas are placed under extensive sugar cane and rice cultivation, because they have poorly drained pale-coloured sandy silty and clayey soils and good for the rice and sugarcane.

In spite of all these agricultural prospects, the people live in abject poverty. The 2015 Composite Budget of the Shai Osudoku District Assembly has highlighted plans to find remedy to the poverty in the area. Some of the interventions are in education; Provision of scholarship assistance to needy but brilliant students, Support to National Youth Employment Programme (Teaching Model), Sensitization of all traders and businesses in the District.

In Agriculture, key focus areas are to; Support the establishment of juice processing industries for mangoes and pineapples, Increase access to agriculture machinery and inputs, Support the establishment of about 2,000 hectares of land under the Accra Plains Irrigation Project, Support the rearing of small ruminants to guarantee food security” among others.

Some actions seems to have been taken to relieve the people of the district from the abject poverty, but these strategies are unsatisfactory. Yet there are unlimited opportunities in the district which ought to be used to solve the problems of the people.

There has to be massive investment in agriculture, specifically into mango farming, rice farming, sugarcane farming and pineapple farming to produce crops for export. The next article on the subject matter shall propose some practical and pragmatic solutions to drastically reduce the poverty level of the district, if not to get it eradicated.

Wisdom Agbevey

President,

Youth for Change in Shai Osudoku Constituency (YOSCO),

Dodowa.