**3. Results and discussion**

## **3.1 Sociodemographics of the Asunafo area**

According to the 1960 population census of Ghana, about 48,043 people occupied Asunafo. The 1970 population was 82,275, that is, about a 71% increase between 1960 and 1970. There was a 49% increase in population between 1970 and 1984 to 122,585. The population again increased by 43% between 1984 and 2000 to 174,026 ([26], p. xx; [27], p. 8; [28], p. 29). Currently, the population of Asunafo South District is 91,693 and that of Asunafo North Municipal District is 150,198. The total of Asunafo is 241,891 from the 2021 population and housing census (http://asunafonorth. ghanadistricts.gov.gh/).

In terms of human occupancy of the Asunafo area, the indigenes were Ahafo. The Ahafo and other migrated Akan people constitute about 68.8% of the population. The rest of the people are from the following ethnic groups: Mole-Dagbani (13.8%), Ewe (5%), Ga-Dangme (3.3), Gurma (3.1%), Guan (1.8%), Grusi (1.6%), Mende (1.5%), and foreigners (1.1%). The largest percentage of the people (86%) depend on fuel wood for cooking, while 9.3% use charcoal. Apart from these fuel sources, kerosene (1.1%), gas (0.6%), electricity (0.5%), coconut husk/maize stock (0.1%), others (0.1%), and none/no cooking (2.2%) have also been recorded ([29], p. 30, 55).

The two dominant economic activities at Asunafo are farming and logging. These activities have long histories. Farming history began in 1900 and timber activities in 1947 ([30]: 167). Individual smallholder farmers normally crop an average of 1.75 acres for food and 5 acres for cocoa ([31], p. 15). Many farmers grow cocoa while a few add oil palm and citrus. Plantain (*Musa ABB*) is the most important subsistence food crop. Large timber firms with huge export capacities have also carried out timber extraction. Notable ones include Mim Timber Company and Gliksten West Africa Limited. Competition between large and small timber merchants has been riffed in the area.

There are three relevant state institutions about forest reserves in Asunafo. The institutions are the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), and the Forestry Commission. The mission of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture is to offer quality agricultural services, sustainably enhance the

### *Degradation of Forest Reserves in Asunafo Forest District, Ghana DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.106993*

growth and development of the sector, ensure farmer collaboration with the private sector, improve food security, and ensure the conservation of natural resources. The Ministry of Food and Agriculture, in the Brong Ahafo Region, has observed that soil fertility replenishment through natural fallow is inadequately poor in the region. This reason underlies the Ministry of Food and Agriculture's training of 51 farmers in the region on sedentary farming systems, land and water management as well as tree cover depletion minimization [32]. The Ministry of Food and Agriculture maintains a District Agricultural Office, which takes care of agricultural activities in the two Asunafo Districts. About the COCOBOD, three offices operate separately at Asunafo: Quality Control Company (QCC), Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease Control Unit (CSSVDCU), and Seed Production Unit (SPU). They are located in Goaso. The Quality Control Company supervises the work of cocoa buying companies. "The mission of the QCC is to develop and provide systematic strategies that will ensure the supply of best grade cocoa and other produce both on the local and international markets" [33]. The CSSVDCU and SPU are, however, indirectly related to land degradation control. The CSSVDCU works directly with cocoa farmers by spraying farms and providing appropriate cocoa agrochemicals. It is solely responsible for the government's free and mass cocoa spraying. The SPU develops cocoa seeds and seedlings for planting. The Forestry Commission maintains two offices at Asunafo – Wildlife Division and Forestry. Both offices are located at Goaso. Its mission is "to sustainably develop and manage Ghana's forestry and wildlife" ([34]: 1). Forestry Commission is specifically concerned with the protection and management of "permanent forest estates and protected areas in the various ecological zones of the country to conserve Ghana's biophysical heritage" ([34]: 1). It also has the responsibility of "advising and providing technical services for forest plantation for restoration of degraded forest and environmental conservation in general" ([34]: 3). The mandate of the Forestry Commission is confined to the protected areas.
