KWADWO A. TUTU*

The study area covers the area of mangroves in the Lower Volta area of the Volta Region. There are 23 main villages in the area. A survey of 60 households from 11 communities in the area were used for the socio-economic analysis. There was an estimated population of 653 people in the sample. The communities were selected at random. The villages interviewed included Agbatsivi, Agbledomi, Agordo, Anyanui, Attravenu, Bomigo, Galo, Gamenu, Hawui and Toprakdo. There were three market surveys of drivers and traders on market days at Anyanui, in order to estimate the export of mangroves and other export products from the area. There was also an in-depth survey of fish-smokers, distillers, construction workers, cutters and landowners.

The land structure termed ‘mangroves’ has been widely noted for its significant ecological functions including flood control and the enhancement of fish reproduction. Before the construction of the Volta Dam, the mangroves in the Lower Volta area served their typical ecological functions. The people depended mainly on farming and fishing with only subsistence harvesting of mangroves for household purposes. Fuel for smoking fish and for distilling akpeteshie (an alcoholic drink made from sugarcane), depended on Vitex donicana (locally ‘foyi’), bicularis (‘ofoyi’) and neem. However, since constructing the dam, economic activity has shifted to the intensive utilization of mangroves for both domestic and commercial purposes. Mangrove related products have also become very important. Neem has become relatively scarce in the area, putting significant pressure on the exploitation of mangroves with a consequent acceleration in the depletion of neem trees.

Thus the economic lifestyle of the people has changed with these shifting production and consumption patterns. Changes in social as well as economic activities follow as a consequence, with potential changes in income distribution.

Before the construction of the Volta Dam, the people of this area were undertaking mainly agriculture and fishing. The agricultural activities were food cropping (mainly cassava, maize and vegetables). Fishing activities concentrated in the lagoon, in the Volta River and a bit in the sea.

Presently the illiteracy rate is likely to be higher than before the dam’s construction, granted the generally low level of employment in Ghana nationwide. A low level of employment and a high rate of unemployment jointly lead to a low return on formal education. Together with the disproportionately high cost of maintaining a child in school and the consequent loss of the child’s labor value, currently there is an increasing disincentive for parents to send their children to school.

The high proportion of illiterate people is likely to increase even more now because of the ever-diminishing economic opportunities in the region. Even the trained craftsmen are likely to migrate to the urban areas where the higher rate of economic activity will demand their skills.

Mangrove Related Economic Activities. We have indicated that mangrove extraction as an economic activity has been a recent phenomenon with the onset of the dam’s operation. Our survey revealed that before the dam, mangroves were rarely used for household consumption. This was because neem trees were abundant. Neither was mangrove relied upon as a major commercial venture because the dominant activities were farming and fishing. With the dam, there has been a major shift in economic activity from agriculture and fishing to mangrove-related activities.

In another tenure arrangement, the owner leases out land to a cutter for a fee that ranges between 60,000 and 100,000 cedis per plot (roughly the equivalent of US$ 24-40). When the mangrove has matured and is harvested, the land reverts to the owner’s possession. If the cutter managed the farm properly, he or she will continue to farm the land. In some cases, leases of land are quite long. Yet another arrangement involves an owner managing his own farm and then selling the mangroves to someone else to cut when matured.

There do not seem to be any procedures in place for drawing up proper contracts nor is there legal enforcement for any of these arrangements. At least one owner expressed fear of losing his land if it were leased out to young and energetic cutters who could manage the farm properly. The basis for his fear is that it takes up to 15 years for mangroves to mature; in that time a tenant could indeed take over the land. In cases where cutters buy matured mangroves but are unable to complete the harvesting, the remaining yield is taken over by the owner. The absence of written and enforceable long-term contractual arrangements generally discourages correct land management practices. For without a properly enforceable contract, the tenant has no security that the land will belong to him for a long time; and so he has no rational incentive to invest in its care.

This situation reveals the erosion of old systems that sustained trust in traditional land-leasing practices. Formerly, morés and codes of conduct inherent in village society rendered written contracts superfluous. In the 1940s and 1950s, the existence of barter systems and several complementary subsistence economic activities, together with the prevalence of strong and well-respected traditional values and codes of conduct insured that verbal contracts were binding. But now, given the predominance of a cash economy and the purported ‘modern’ value system, there is an urgent need to establish written enforceable contracts to improve ownership systems and to encourage good management practices.

Weed control seems to be the most intractable problem for mangrove management. One particular weed, the pan-tropical fern called Acrostichum aureum (locally ‘alema’), directly competes with mangroves for space and nutrients. In some cases, hectares of land are taken over by fern and no mangroves can be grown there. The consensus is that fern is a very difficult weed to control and a major obstacle to mangrove production. The normal means of control involves a lot of labor: cutting down the branches, burning the plant, removing the roots and replanting the mangroves in the area. This is the most effort-intensive part of the cutter’s job.

Those interviewed recommended specific improvements in mangrove management to achieve higher productivity. In the household survey, 60 percent claimed that mangroves are now properly managed while 40 percent disagreed. There was concurrence that the chief effort required is weed control. One positive aspect of the recent intensification in mangrove extraction is the indigenous knowledge that has accumulated through this activity. This knowledge will be important for designing sustainable management policies. If such policies are designed with the input and active involvement of expert stakeholders, then their implementation will be smooth.

As part of the survey, villagers were asked to speculate about alternative employment options in the absence of mangroves. Of those that responded, 25 percent said that there were no alternatives. The rest suggested fishing, farming and mat weaving. The calculated average daily return on mat weaving is 1,785 cedis (the equivalent of 70 to 80 cents in US$ currency). It can be inferred that 75 percent of adults currently harvesting mangrove related products have an opportunity-cost of time of 01,785 per day. All children under 18 and the rest of the adults were assumed to have no opportunity-cost of time.

We have indicated above that mangroves are used principally for fish smoking and for home cooking. Other uses include house construction (chiefly for thatched roofing) and forakpeteshi distilling, as detailed below.

The smokers buy fish in small or big-sized bowls. After smoking about 90 percent of the smokers sell the product in Accra. Upon calculation the return on smoking an average bowl is about 6,000 cedis, and with an average of 10 bowls a week during both bumper and lean seasons, the net return for an individual fish smoker is about 60,000 cedis per week (approximately US$ 24).

Akpeteshi Distilling. Like fish smokers, these agents use any fuel that is available. Those that work near the coastal mangrove zone rely on mangrove wood. It is estimated that there are about 30 distilleries in the Lower Volta Basin.

Roofing. Interviews were held with 13 people normally engaged in roofing. This is not a daily activity; but a lot of mangroves are used to thatch one roof. In about 80 percent of the villages, the ratio of thatched roof to corrugated iron roof is 80/20. The estimate for roofing one room using the cost of mangroves and roofing palms comes to 40,525 cedis per room while the cost of labor is 15,750 cedis. The total cost of a thatched roof for a room comes to 56,275 cedis. Since the average number of rooms in a house is three, the total cost for thatching a house is 168,825 cedis.

This study has revealed that as a result of the Volta Dam, the production and consumption activities of the people of the Lower Volta area has changed from that of agriculture and fishing to mainly extraction of mangroves. There is now a higher proportion of illiterate people due to migration of skilled workers away from the area. Meanwhile the erosion of traditional morés and codes of conduct necessitates the establishment of written, enforceable contracts to achieve a sustainable management of mangroves. Such practices were never needed before the dam’s impact, and so they indicate a significant change in socially condoned conduct of the region.

The study revealed an increase of indigenous knowledge concerning mangrove cultivation that might be used in a participatory manner to maintain a proper mangrove management policy. Although agricultural activities and fishing have been curtailed, the earnings from mangrove related activities are an adequate substitute. The only problem is that there is too much exploitation of mangroves, given the abrupt impoverishment of the ecology; this is yielding a rapid depletion of the mangrove itself as a resource. If proper management practices are put in place — including weed control, proper thinning strategies, enforceable land contracts and possibly replanting of a substitute wood — then the new economic activity of mangroves will turn out to be a second best.

* The author wishes to acknowledge the crucial role of his ODA project collaborator Robert Hearne, of the International Institute for Environment and Development (London), in the development of this chapter.

1. This analysis is part of a broader multidisciplinary project begun in December 1986, funded by the Overseas Development Agency (ODA). The objective of the project is to understand the mangrove economy and to prescribe policy measures to manage this economy sustainably.

2. The depopulation of the fish is a likely result of overfishing, since agricultural activity has reduced significantly, with a consequent increase in fishing.

3. These figures must be used with caution and therefore should not be quoted since they are yet to be validated by RSAU.

4. Since water is rarely boiled, diseases such as diarrhea are likely to be prevalent. An adequate supply of accessible, potable water is crucial to households’ welfare and is a prerequisite to good hygiene and sanitation (Songsore, 1992; p. 5). Many health problems are linked to poor water quality, lack of availability, difficulty of access and inadequate provisions for waste disposal cf. Harody et. al. (1992); Cairncross (1990).

5. At the time of manuscript production, the rapidly falling cedi was worth approximately 2,800 per US dollar.

6. Such a low percentage of the local population relying on traditional health-care delivery radically diverges from the nation’s norm; cf. Addae-Mensah, "Biodiversity, herbal medicine, intellectual property rights and industrially developing countries," in this volume.

7. For explication of the term ‘informal’ sector, cf. K. Ninsin, "Informalization and Ghanaian Politics," this volume.

8. Typically, black snails are not consumed locally; this dietary change is a response to the changing material base.

9. A ‘cutter’ is someone who plants the mangrove, maintains it and cuts it when mature.

10. Some fish smokers prefer a special species of the white mangrove because it gives off a white smoke.

11. An ongoing monitoring system to evaluate the relative productivity of thinned vs. unthinned plots would be valuable in the development of a sustainable management strategy.

12. This indigenous observation remains to be tested scientifically by the soil scientist and hydrologist.

13. The initial remote sensing results, yet to be verified, show a fast rate of neem depletion.

14. To give meaning to these income figures: monthly rent of a one room chamber for a family with children in the city and suburbs of Accra is about 35,000 cedis; To serve home-cooked rice for a month to a family of six costs about 40,000 cedis; a chicken for roasting costs 10-14,000 cedis. A gallon of gasoline costs 5,000 cedis (roughly two dollars).

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Gammage S. (1997) "Estimating the Returns to Mangrove Conversion: Sustainable Management or Short Term Gain?" Discussion Paper No. 2., Environmental Economics Program, London: IIED, forthcoming.

Hardoy, J.D. and Satterthwaite, D. (1992) Environmental Problems in Third World Cities, London: Earthscan.

Shenker, J.M. and Dean J.M. (1979) "The Utilization of an Intertidal Salt Marsh Creek by Larval and Juvenile Brown Shrimp," Estuaries, 2, pp. 154-163.

Songsore, J. (1992) "Review of Household Environmental Problems in the AMA, Ghana," in Stockholm Environment Institute Working Paper, Sweden.