An Analytical report on the 2010 Population and Housing Census (PHC) has revealed the challenge that the low level of literacy poses for the agricultural sector. Jessica Acheampong writes
In the 2010 PHC, data collated on agricultural activities in the country showed that the population of agricultural households in 2010 was 13,366,340 and accounted for 54.2 per cent of the total population.
For the purpose of the census, an agricultural household was defined as where, at least, one person in the household was engaged in any type of farming activity, be it crop farming, tree growing, livestock rearing and fish farming.
The report which was put together by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), the national data compilation body, said 31.5 per cent of the agricultural household members had no formal education, 60.3 per cent had up to middle school level education and 8.2 per cent had secondary school education or higher.
Also, among the heads of the agricultural households, 44.1 per cent had no formal education, 35.2 per cent had up to middle school education and the remaining 10.7 per cent had post-middle school education.
These statistics are worrying for a country that is touted as an agriculture dominant economy because it employs a large per cent of the population.
Again, with the call for the introduction of mordenised farming technologies in the agriculture sector to help improve yield, it becomes a challenge if the people intended to use it do not have the needed capacity to do so.
“The high proportion of low level of education among agricultural population has implications for the sector as the adoption of modern farming technologies requires relatively higher levels of education and literacy, particularly, in English language,” the report explained.
It also posited that with the low level of formal education and literacy among heads of agricultural households as well as the other members engaged in farming activities, there should be a concerted effort to improve the literacy level of agricultural and rural populations.
OVERVIEW
In the 2010 PHC, specific questions were asked, for the first time, on households in farming activities, namely, crop farming, tree growing, livestock rearing and fish farming.
The report showed that of the agricultural households, 95.1 per cent were engaged in crop farming, 40.5 per cent were in livestock rearing while only 1.1 per cent was in tree growing and 0.2 per cent in fish farming.
In six of the regions, the proportions of agricultural households engaged in crop farming exceeded 95.0 per cent with the highest proportions in the Ashanti (96.8%), Upper East (96.7%), and Brong Ahafo regions (96.6%) while the lowest proportion was 80.2 per cent in the Greater Accra region.
On tree growing, the report revealed that 4.5 per cent of households practiced in the Greater Accra and 2.0 per cent in Brong Ahafo region. “In six of the regions, the proportions were below 1.0 per cent with the least being in the Upper East (0.4%), Western (0.5%) and Volta regions (0.6%).”
Forty per cent of the agricultural households were in livestock rearing and the regions with the highest proportions are the three in the northern savannah agro-ecological, namely, Upper East (82.8%), Upper West (63.7%) and northern regions (60.9%).
In the rest of the seven regions, the proportions were below 40.0 per cent except the Eastern region which had a proportion of 41.5 per cent. The lowest proportions were in the Ashanti (25.4%) and Western regions (29.1%).
The report also showed that the proportion of agricultural households engaged in fish farming was low in all the regions. The highest proportion was only 0.5 per cent in Greater Accra region, followed by Western region (0.4%) and Eastern region (0.3%). In three regions, namely, Central, Volta and Northern, the proportions were the same as the national average (0.2%). In the remaining four regions, namely, Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Upper East and Upper West, the proportion was 0.1 per cent.
WAY FORWARD
The Acting Census Cordinator of the GSS, Mr David Kombat explained to the GRAPHIC BUSINESS that Agriculture was still the main employer of the economy, with about 42 per cent and as such efforts must be made to address the issue of illiteracy currently facing the sector.
The report also recommended the reactivation of the non-formal adult education programme which has been stalled and to be targeted to rural areas where agriculture is predominantly practiced.
The 2010 Census gathered information from each individual present in Ghana on 26th September, 2010; the Census also collected data on all living quarters in Ghana as at 26th September, 2010.
Beyond providing benchmark data for planning released in the final results of the 2010 census in May, 2012, the detailed analysis according to Mr Kombat was aimed at enhancing understanding of the effectiveness of the various interventions initiated by government and its collaborators to improve the lives of Ghanaians. GB
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