Sustainability of alternative livelihood strategies in selected sand mining communities in the Ga South Municipality and Gomoa East District of Ghana

Figures & data

Figure 1. DFID’s sustainable livelihood framework. Source: DFID (2000).

Figure 2. Map of Ga South Municipality, showing the study communities. Source: Department of Geography and Regional Planning, UCC, 2021.

Figure 3. Map of Gomoa East District, showing the study communities. Source: Department of Geography and Regional Planning, UCC, 2021.

Figure 4. Triangulation and research workflow.

Table 1. List of key informants interviewed.

Actor	No. interviewed
Landowners/chiefs	8
Sand contractors/miners	8
Key informant at MMDAs	2
Key informant at Department of Agric.	2
EPA	2
Minerals Commission	1
Total	23

Source: Field survey, 2021.

Table 2. Household heads adoption of alternative livelihood strategy by community.

Adoption of alternative strategy	Buduatta No. %	Kweikrom No %	Hobor No. %	Tebu No. %	Total No. %
Adopted	32 51.6	22 57.9	71 68.9	14 34.1	139 57.0
Not adopted	30 48.4	16 42.1	32 31.1	27 65.9	105 43.0
Total	62 100.0	38 100.0	103 100.0	41 100.0	244* 100.0

χ² = 15.463, df = 3, α =  0.05, p value = 0.001.

* Less than the number of respondents due to nonresponse.

Source: Fieldwork, 2021.

Table 3. Alternative livelihood strategies adopted by household heads.

Types of adopted strategies	Frequency	Percent
Petty trading	51	37.0
Construction labourer	26	18.7
Commercial motorbike riding	14	10.0
Block making	11	7.9
Lotto writing	10	7.2
Firewood/charcoal	9	6.4
Alcohol sale (drinking spot)	8	5.7
Watchmen	5	3.6
Mobile money vendor	3	2.1
Bicycle/motor repairs	2	1.4
Total	139	100.0

Source: Fieldwork, 2021.

Table 4. Household responses on access to credit by community.

Access to credit	Buduatta No. %	Kweikrom No %	Hobor No. %	Tebu No. %	Total No. %
No access	38 45.2	33 86.8	80 85.1	34 100.0	185 74.0
Have access	46 54.8	5 13.2	14 14.9	0 0.0	65 26.0
Total	84 100.0	38 100.0	94 100.0	34 100.0	250* 100.0

χ² = 54.347, df = 3, α = 0.05, p value = 0.000.

* Less than the number of household respondents due to nonresponse.

Source: Fieldwork, 2021.

Figure 5. Flow chart showing the outcomes of alternative livelihood strategies. Source: Authors construct.

Table 5. Sustainability between original livelihoods and alternative strategies by community.

Parameter	Buduatta No. %	Kweikrom No %	Hobor No. %	Tebu No. %	Total No. %
Original livelihood	16 50.0	7 31.8	48 67.6	7 50.0	78 56.1
Not sure	14 43.8	8 36.4	9 12.7	7 50.0	38 27.3
Adopted livelihood	2 6.3	7 31.8	14 19.7	0 0.0	23 16.5
Total1	32 100.0	22 100.0	71 100.0	14 100.0	139*100.0

χ² = 24.212, df = 6, α = 0.05, p value = 0.000.

* Responses by only household heads who had adopted alternative strategies.

Source: Fieldwork, 2021.

Table 6. Challenges of the adopted alternative livelihood strategies.

Alternative livelihood strategy	Challenge(s)
Petty trading	Low sales Low purchasing power/credit purchases Inadequate access to credit to expand business
Commercial motorbike riding	Frequent accidents High maintenance costs Bad road network Alleged harassment by local police
Firewood/charcoal burning	Difficult access to trees Harsh working conditions
Construction labour jobs	Difficult task Health and safety problems Seasonal employment Irregular income Inadequate use of potentials/skills

Source: Fieldwork, 2021.

DFID. (2000). Sustainable livelihood: Current thinking and practice. Department for International Development.

 Google Scholar