The agricultural sector of developing countries continues to contribute significantly to Gross Domestic Product. However, majority of actors in the sector remain low income earners and inequality exacerbates. Several interventions have been implemented including providing microcredit to farmers. However, the results of such interventions remain contested as the outcomes have been a mixed one: positive and negative results. This paper sought to evaluate microcredit impact on incomes within the agricultural sector of the Pru District of Ghana. A case study and quasi-experimental methods were employed. Data was collected from 96 crop farmers and 60 fishermen using questionnaires. It was revealed that microcredit has a positive relationship with incomes and aids in moderating income disparity amongst actors.
Gender inequality is an inevitable concomitant of the innate poverty in humanity, a situation to which the Ghanaian society is no exception. This paper explores the underlying elements of gender inequality pertinent to women in the small-scale gold mining sector in Ghana drawing inference from a case study of the Tarkwa-Nsuaem municipal assembly area in the western Region. The contribution of women to the small-scale gold mining sector and through that poverty reduction is immense, notwithstanding a number of factors that alongside militate against their well being. The drawbacks have to do with the unregulated, dangerous and insecure conditions of the small-scale gold mining operators that for the most part, tend be discriminative against women. These are in areas of the health, income and capacity building package benefits to their labour force. The policy implication is the need for government to institute gender-sensitive workplace regulatory policies and programmes to be adhered to in the smallscale mining sector in the country. It should be the responsibility of the municipal and all the relevant regulatory authorities to ensure that the designated policies as well as the attendant rules and regulations are enforced.
Although Small Scale surface mining has grown significantly in the developing world in recent decades, the hive of environmental and socioeconomic discontents that accompanies large-scale surface mining activities are very much unprecedented. This paper therefore examines the operations of large scale mining group in the context of such discontents, in the case of Prestea, a vibrant mining town in the Prestea-Huni Valley District Assembly Area in the Western Region of Ghana. Case study approach within a naturalistic and interpretivist paradigm is the research design for this proposed study. The specific case involves the activities of BGL within the context of community safety and sustainability. Both quantitative and qualitative primary dataset were used in this study, coupled with observations and site visits. In-community survey was carried out with a total of seventy respondents (including mining employees) and SPSS analysis was done on the gathered data. The qualitative primary data were collected using in-depth, semistructured interviews with representatives of case company and stakeholder institutions and departments. Secondary data from case company and stakeholder institutions were subjected to content analysis. The findings of the study reveal that although the economic contribution of the mining sector towards the area's economy is significant, the environmental and social wellbeing of host communities do not received equal enthusiasm and attention from the case company. The paper therefore critically assesses the effectiveness of the current remedial measures by the case company and makes policy recommendations to promote cleaner and safer production.
Flooding has become an imminent and disruptive threat in many cities around the world. In developing/emerging economies, cities are often more vulnerable to the impacts of flooding. For example, in Accra, Ghana, recently over 150 people perished in a flash flood. The high casualty rate was a consequence of the lack of a well-developed integrated flood risk management plan and exacerbated by weak institutions, slums, urban sprawl and informal land / property management. To this effect, high risk countries like Ghana are in need of urgent development of systematic mitigation measures to engender community resilience (CS). Using the combined qualitative technique of Phenomenological Studies (PS) and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), the flood risk perception, coping and management strategies of two vulnerable communities in the second largest city of Ghana, Kumasi are examined and evaluated for evidence of a sense of community resilience through social responsibility. The findings suggest that the two urban communities are aware they are at high risk to flooding and live in a constant state of anxiety during the wet seasons. However, there is no evidence of any systematic coping and management strategies and the communities feel there is nothing they can do without government support. It is suggested that government should use the leverage of local government practices to help engender a stronger sense of community empowerment and involvement towards building resilient communities that can respond to flooding through perceptions, social responsibility and appropriate public relation models.
Flooding has become an imminent and disruptive threat in many cities around the world. In developing/emerging economies, cities are often more vulnerable to the impacts of flooding. For example, in Accra, Ghana, recently over 150 people perished in a flash flood. The high casualty rate was a consequence of the lack of a well-developed integrated flood risk management plan and exacerbated by weak institutions, slums, urban sprawl and informal land / property management. To this effect, high risk countries like Ghana are in need of urgent development of systematic mitigation measures to engender community resilience (CS). Using the combined qualitative technique of Phenomenological Studies (PS) and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), the flood risk perception, coping and management strategies of two vulnerable communities in the second largest city of Ghana, Kumasi are examined and evaluated for evidence of a sense of community resilience through social responsibility. The findings suggest that the two urban communities are aware they are at high risk to flooding and live in a constant state of anxiety during the wet seasons. However, there is no evidence of any systematic coping and management strategies and the communities feel there is nothing they can do without government support. It is suggested that government should use the leverage of local government practices to help engender a stronger sense of community empowerment and involvement towards building resilient communities that can respond to flooding through perceptions, social responsibility and appropriate public relation models.
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