Browsing by Author "Asante, Kofi"

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    Assessing the potential impacts of climate change on irrigation water use in Upper East Region of Ghana: a case study of Tono and Vea Irrigation Projects
    (2014-11-18) Asante, Kofi
    Climate change is a global phenomenon associated with the emission of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere with the resultant effect of raising the mean temperature. Climate change will lead to an intensification of the global hydrological cycle and can have major impacts on regional water resources..............
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    Assessing the Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Irrigation Water Use in Upper East Region of Ghana: A case study of Tono and Yea Irrigation Projects
    (2011-08-11) Asante, Kofi
    Climate change is a global phenomenon associated with the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere with the resultant effect of raising the global mean temperatures. Climate change will lead to an intensification of the global hydrological cycle and can have major impacts on regional water resources, affecting both ground and surface water supply for domestic and industrial uses, irrigation, hydropower generation, navigation, in-stream ecosystems and water-based recreation. The people in Upper East Region (UER) are mostly engaged in Agriculture which is mostly dependent on irrigation water provided by medium and small reservoirs. With increase in population and the need to meet food security under Ghana's poverty reduction strategy, more lands are envisaged to be put under irrigation. It is therefore imperative to look into the impacts of climate change on irrigation water use of the two medium reservoirs in the region, Tono and Vea irrigation projects. Historical water abstraction from Tono and Vea reservoirs were estimated. The irrigation needs of four major crops (rice, tomato, pepper and onion) grown during the dry season were computed using the CROP WAT model. Future climatic conditions for the year 2020, 2050 and 2080 were determined for the UER based on synthetic and general circulation models climate scenarios. Future irrigation needs were also computed based on future climatic conditions. Climate change adaptation measures were identified and reviewed by interviewing institutions who have a stake in climate change. Historical water abstraction from the Tono and Vea reservoirs for the cultivation of the four crops were far less than their maximum storage capacity. Historical water abstraction for the cultivation of the four crops for dry season farming ranged from 9.66 Mm3 to 27.67 Mm3 and 1.82 Mm3 to 8.88 Mm3 for Tono and Vea reservoirs respectively. The irrigation requirements of rice, tomato, pepper and onion based on climatic baseline (1977 - 2006) are 871.5 mm, 680.1 mm, 558.9 mm and 441.8 mm respectively. The net irrigation water requirements of the four crops will increase by about 0.6 - 9% due to climate change depending on the climate change scenarios and time slices. Climate change will not have significant impact on Tono irrigation project because future irrigation abstraction when maximum land areas between 1985 and 2006 are cultivated will be about 33 - 35 % of the maximum storage of the reservoir. Future irrigation abstraction when the total irrigable area at Tono is cultivated with rice, will be about 44% to 47% of the maximum storage capacity between 2020 and 2080 and therefore the total irrigable area of 2490 ha could be utilized for the cultivation of rice and other water demanding crops since there is abundance of water. Climate change will have a minimal impact on Vea reservoir but coupled with an increase in domestic abstraction, the stored water in the reservoir may not be adequate for both irrigation (when maximum land areas between 1985 and 2006 are cultivated in the future) and domestic use for 2050 and beyond. Furthermore, when the total irrigable area is cultivated, the stored water will be adequate for the cultivation of tomato, pepper and onion in 2020 with the exception of rice. The Vea reservoir could supply enough water for the cultivation of pepper and onion on the total irrigable area in 2050 because their irrigation abstractions are about 63% and 49% of the maximum storage capacity. In 2080, the Vea reservoir cannot supply enough water (over 51 % of total reservoir capacity) needed for the cultivation of each of the four crops on the total irrigable area because domestic abstraction will be about 52% of the maximum storage capacity. Climate change adaptation measures such as planting of crop varieties tolerant to adverse climatic conditions, efficient water management, and application of organic matter fortified with inorganic fertilizer if implemented can help farmers cope with climate change.
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    Prospects and challenges of small and medium forest enterprises in local development. A case of Sunyani West District in the Brong Ahafo Region.
    (2011-07-18) Asante, Kofi
    The informal sub-sector is characterized by small and medium forest enterprises (SMFEs) broadly covering wood forest products, non-wood forest products and forest services. These SMFEs have been largely left out in forest planning and management even though they represent the main, additional or alternative income source for about three million people in Ghana. Broadly, SMFEs in Ghana are known to have less than 30 employees, source: (Daily Graphic of Friday, March 19, 2010) Also, evidence has shown that SMFEs contribute to more than 50 percent of forest employment in some countries, and also comprise 80-90 percent of all forest-related enterprises in many countries (Mayers, 2007). Despite the potential contribution of SMFEs to local development, there are set of challenges they face, as opposed to non-forest SMEs are complex. Primary, security of tenure is a large concern, most especially when one SMFE cannot assert its right to the forest and natural resources with competitors. However, SMFEs, depending on national policies and local practice can be in better positions than large forest enterprises to address local forest-dependent poverty and development (Macqueen, 2008, 4). SMFEs accumulate wealth locally, support local entrepreneurship, and secure natural resource rights and access for the local communities. However, SMFEs have become synonymous with unregulated logging and illegal harvesting, due in large part to ill-fitting legal frameworks (Karsenty et al, 2008, 1507). This study seeks to analyse the prospects and challenges of SMFEs in local development in the Sunyani West District. Based on this premise, the study sought to find answers to the following research questions. 1. What are the various types of SMFEs in Sunyani West? 2. What is the mode of operation of SMFEs in Sunyani West District? 3. What are the contributions of Forest Enterprises to the development of the Sunyani West District? 4. What are the challenges hindering SMFEs to the sustainability of Forests in Sunyani West District. The study followed three main steps: Desk study to review both primary and secondary data, Field survey, and Analysis and Synthesis of field data. Data were collected from both primary and secondary data. The analysis revealed the following findings. Ninety (90) Percent of SMFEs had not registered their businesses, majority of them, about (50%) evade taxes, and also (19%) of the respondents have little or no knowledge about the regulatory frameworks of SMFEs. In response to these findings, the following recommendations were made: thus, the need to develop a data base on all activities of SMFEs to obtain vital statistics in order to regularize their activities and to support their operations, strengthening the institutions such as FSD, GWD, and TIDD to monitor the activities of the SMFEs in the district, and to impose fines where appropriate, and the need for the institutions involved in forest resource management to embark on vigorous radio programmes to broadcast information on the laws governing forest resources.