Brief history

The Kintampo South District is one of the Eleven (11) Districts in the Bono East Region of Ghana. The District was created by Legislative Instrument (LI) 1781 and was duly inaugurated on 24th August, 2004. It lies within longitudes 1⁰ 20’ West and 2⁰10’ East and latitude 8⁰ 15’ North and 7⁰ 45’ South.

Location and Size

The District shares boundaries with Kintampo North Municipal to the North-East; Bole District to Noth-West; Pru District to the East; Nkoranza North District to the South-East; Techiman North District to the South-West and Wenchi Municipal to the West. The District covers an area of about 1,774.85 km² and comprises of 122 settlements.

Jema, the District Capital has an estimated population of about 7,897 while the total District population stands at 97,690 (Credit: PHC, 2021). The major settlements include Jema, Ampoma, Amoma, Krabonso, Ayima, Apesika, Mansie, Ayorya and Nkwanta. Techiman, the Regional Capital lies South to the District and is also about 24 kilometres from Jema, District Capital.

Geology and Soil

The District is underlain by the voltaian formation which consists principally of sandstones, shale’s, mudstones and limestone. Some parts of the District are also underlain by Birimiam formation. There are reported mineral deposits of Diamond at Mansie and Gold at Anyima. There exists large tracts of clay at Nante and attempts to develop a bricks and tile factory have been thwarted by lack of funds. As a result, these vast clay deposits are untapped.

Relief and Drainage

The District falls within the Voltaian Basin and the Southern Voltaian Plateau physiographic regions. The Voltainan Basin is made up of flat-bedded rocks and is extremely plain with rolling and undulating land surface with an elevation of between 60-150metres above sea level. The Southern Voltaian Plateau occupying the Southern and South-eastern part of the District is characterised by series of escarpments. Many rivers and streams drain the District. The major ones are River Pumpum, River Oyoko, River Nante and River Tanti. These rivers flow to join the Black Volta. Most of the rivers are intermittent in nature and thus fluctuate in volume.

Climate

The Kintampo South District experiences a modified Tropical Continental climate or modified Wet Semi-equatorial climate. This is because the District lies in the transitional zone between the Wet Semi-equatorial and Tropical Continental climates. Like other parts of the country, the District experiences two seasons namely wet and dry. The Wet season shows double maxima (peaks) rainfall pattern (i.e. major and minor). The major raining season starts in early March and reaches its peak in June, and tapers off gradually through July. The minor season starts in late August and reaches its peak in September/November.

Vegetation

The vegetation of the District falls under the Woodland Savannah Zone. However, due to its transitional nature the area does not exhibit typical savannah conditions. The savannah is heavily wooded with relatively taller trees in contrast to trees in the typical savannah grassland areas of the north but not as tall as trees in the deciduous forest areas of the south. Typical in the District exist the formation of a “fringe forest” found along the banks of major rivers and streams. The type of tree species prevalent in the District includes the Mahogany, Odum, Senya, Apupuo, Shea, Wawa,  Dawadawa etc. The vegetation is prone to bush fires, intense lumbering, overgrazing and crop farming, a good example is the Bosomoa Forest Reserve which due to extensive lumbering has greatly reduced the quality of vegetation.

Natural Resources

The extensive soil in the District is the ground water lateritic soil covering about 60% of the District. The rest of the 40% of the District is covered by the savanna ochrosols occurring in the North and North-western parts of the District at Ayorya, Jema, and Amoma. Generally these soils are good for the cultivation of tubers, cereals, tobacco, vegetables and legumes. Cashew, mangoes and cotton do well on these soils

Population Size and Growth Rate

The District has a population of 97,690 with a relatively high growth rate of 3.0% as above the national growth rate of 2.7%. Out of this population figure, males account for 45,864 and females 47,736. The entire population of the District constitutes about 0.4% of the National average of about 21,607,077. The relatively high growth rate in the District is likely to be the influx of migrant farmers from the northern parts of the country.

Spatial Distribution of Population

The District has about 122 communities. However, some of them have a population of less than 100 people and can thus be described as hamlets and villages. There is only one community which has its population above 5,000 and thus can be classified as urban (when urban is defined as settlement with population above 5,000), i.e. Jema, the District capital. The population of the District is fairly distributed. As a result, there is no heavy concentration in a particular area.

Population Density

The District has a population density of 53 persons per square kilometre as compared to the Regional figure of 44 persons per square kilometre.

Household Composition

About 51% of households have members between 3 and 5; households with between 6 and 8 members constitute 33% and those with 9 members and above is 14%. Household with members of 1 and 2, constitute just 2%. Most household heads in the District are males constituting 72% and females 28%.  Interestingly, about 80% of the household heads are in the active population. This means that 20% of household heads are dependent on the rest of the members. This situation could imply that most households are catered for in terms of their basic needs (as most household heads are employable).

Literacy Level

It indicates that, only about 55.4% of the household heads are literate (that is, with some level of education and can read and write), whilst 44.6% are illiterates.

Ethnicity and Religion

 Bono constitute (70%), Mo (15%), Dagomba (9%), Asante (1%), Guan (2%) and other tribes (3%). The Bonos and Mos in general form the majority ethnic groups in the District. Christianity dominate the population with 67%, Muslims 26%, Traditional religion (5%) and other religions 2%.

Rural-Urban Split

The District is basically a rural one with 99% of the population living in the rural areas whilst the remaining 1% of the population lives in settlement with population above 5000. About 30% of the population are settler farmers who migrated from the northern parts of the country. Some of the major settlements are located along the major Trunk road, which links Kintampo to Techiman.

Population by Settlement (Spatial Distribution)

The District contains over 122 settlements, with most of the major settlements located along the main roads of the District.

Condition of the Natural Environment

The District has an extensive forest reserve of about 150.50km² known as the Bosomoa Forest Reserve. The tree species found in the reserves include, Teak, Odum, Wawa, Senya, Manana and Mahogany, which have given rise to timber extraction. This reserve can be found in the areas around: Krutakyi, Jema, Ampoma, Anyima, Nante and Krabonso. The activities of timber contractors, illegal chain saw operators and the use of traditional farming methods, such as slash and burn, have contributed negatively to the changing face of the natural environment. The consequences are as follows:

1. Depletion of the economic trees and the forest reserves as a result of the neglect of afforestation and re-afforestation programmes.

2. Destruction of crops through indiscriminate felling and transportation of the extracted timber from the bush.

3. The high incidence of bush fires in the District especially in the dry season due to group hunting, indiscriminate burning of farm lands, and careless handling of faggots by palm wine tappers.

4. Erosion has been a major problem in the natural environment due to the absence of drains along road networks and in the towns.

Transport/Road Network

The District can boast of only 18km of tarred road (i.e. Kintampo-Techiman road) all the remaining are gravel surfaced feeder roads. The total road network of feeder roads in the District is 385.44 km. Out of the total length of 385.44 km only 135.59 km is accessible all year round representing 35.2% whilst the remaining 249.85 km i.e. 64.8% are not accessible. The conditions of most of the roads in the District are bad; some are un-motorable during the rainy season.  Examples include; Amoma Junction-Amoma, Kabonso-Anyima and Ampoma-Anyima, Apesika area roads, among others.

Market

The District has three (3) weekly markets located in Jema (Tuesday), Apesika (Thursday) and Anyima (Monday). These markets are patronised mainly by farmers and middlemen from Kintampo, Techiman, Tamale, Wenchi and other areas. Products sold at the markets are mainly food crops and household items. None of these Market Centres has any modern market infrastructure.

Post and Telecommunication

The District has only one Post Office located at Jema, the District capital. The District has telephone facilities in the capital Jema through the Vodafone Radio Phones. Mobile Cellular Networks such as Vodafone, MTN and AirtelTigo has communication masks dotted across the district. However, not all areas are covered by their service.

Banking and Finance

The District has only one (1) Rural Bank, located in Jema which is an agency of the Kintampo Rural Bank and one (1) Savings and Loan Company, BACCSOD by the Cathoric Church.

Tourism

The District has a lot of sites of historical, scientific and aesthetic importance, which have the potential of serving as tourist attractions when developed. These potential tourist attractions are shown in the table below:

EXISTING TOURIST SITES/ATTRACTIONS