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Most dams have achieved their main goals for which they were constructed. Its existence has
affected livelihood diversification in many ways. A number of studies have been conducted on
the effects of dam construction on rural livelihoods. However, studies on the positive and
negative effects of dam construction on rural livelihood diversification are inadequately studied.
This study will inform policy makers and staff of the Bui Power Authority (BPA) to appreciate the
implications of the dam on rural livelihoods and formulate better strategies for alternate
livelihoods to the communities. The aim of the study was to investigate the positive and negative
effects of Bui Hydro- electric dam construction on the rural livelihood diversification. The
research employed key informant using an in-depth interview, involving thirty (30) participants
from both farming and fishing communities called Battor Akanyakrom and Dokokyena in the
Brong-Ahafo region of Ghana. The results revealed that, the construction of the dam had a short-
term positive impact and a long- term negative impact on households on- farm and off- farm/non-
farm activities. Understanding the various livelihood diversities, what determines those diverse
livelihoods and the effect of the dam construction on the diverse livelihood activities is a
precondition for formulating better sustainable livelihood strategies.
INTRODUCTION
Dams have played a major role in the provision of water constructed but there has been an adverse effect on
resources and energy. Constructions of man-made determinants of livelihood and an increased vulnerability of
structures such as dams, power generation facilities and local communities. Canter (2004) points out that dams can
transmission of both water and electric power have been potentially harm living beings besides their advantages
imposed with many environmental regulations due to the such as meeting basic requirements of the society and
resultant effects on community livelihoods. Studies increasing living standards. Household resettled to pave
(DiFrancesco & Woodruff 2007) show that more than way for the dam construction are exposed to various
45,000 large dams (greater than 15 m in height) exist shocks, risks and stresses. Some households therefore
worldwide. This is largely due to the desire of countries undertake diverse activities to obtain income to be able to
especially developing one to achieve the millennium endure these shocks and stresses. According to Ellis
development goals and other socio-economic (1996), when a rural household has diverse sources of
development objectives leading to the re‐engagement of income earning activities, its financial chances of survival
the World Bank and other regional banks in financing large are better than those household which has only one
water infrastructure in the last few years (World Bank, source.
2004; Grey & Sadoff, 2007). However, the construction of
dams is often made at the expense of important factors in
a wholistic developmental perspective, such as the
environment, socio-economy and sustainability of culture, *Corresponding author: Daniella Delali Sedegah, School
thereby affecting people’s general livelihood. While most of Natural Resource Management, University of Energy &
dams have achieved their main goals for which they were Natural Resources, Ghana. E-mail: drdrbuor@gmail.com
dam and resettled communities as a result of Bui dam 20 – 30 for qualitative research, the choice of 30
construction. These reasons reflect the merit of conducting participants is justified.
study in terms of accessibility, collecting relevant data, and
the relevance of the study to stakeholders (i.e. the The Akanyakrom community comprises of Ewe people
community, NGOs, MOFA, District Assembly, and Bui believe to have migrated from Volta region in the 1920s to
Power Authority) interested in understanding positive and their current location in the Brong-Ahafo Region. The
negative effects of dams on livelihood and ensuring Dokokyena community is also inhabited by indigenous
sustainable livelihoods in resettled communities. people who migrated from the Upper West Region to work
Purposive sampling was used in selecting 30 (Veal, 2006) as agricultural laborers on seasonal basis and have in the
household heads with insight in phenomenon being long term settled in the area. The major rainy season
studied. Given that research connoisseurs like Morse occurs between April and July and the minor rainfall period
(1994) suggests approximately a sample size of between occurs between September and November.
30 – 50 participants, while Creswell (1998) suggests only
Fig. 1: Map of Banda district showing Battor Akanyakrom and Dokokyina community
For purposes of triangulation (Yin, 2011) and data household sizes ranging five (5) to eleven (11) as shown
credibility (Bailey, 2007) key informant interviews, direct in Table 1. Their main traditional occupation among the
observation and semi-structured interviews were used in two communities is fishing (due to the proximity to the
collecting data and focus group discussions. Direct Volta Lake) and farming, however, Akanyakrom
observation was used to provide a rich understanding of community also engages in tourism activities (proximity to
the subject-matter as well as to validate the information the Bui National Park) and trading in farm produce.
obtained through other sources of information such as the
key informant interviews done (Adler & Adler, 1994). Key Table 1: Demographic Characteristics of Respondents
informants interviews were used to gather information from Community Gender Age Number of Frequency
some opinion leaders within the study area. The use of Households
focus group discussion in a qualitative study such as this Battor Male 32-69 5-11 10
is encouraged because, it participants’ disclosures tends Akanyakrom Female 5
to be natural and comfortable (Krueger & Casey, 2000). Dokokyena Male 32-69 5-11 9
Female 6
Characteristics of households Total Number 30
Of Households
Respondents were all married with ages ranging from Source: Field survey, 2018
thirty- two (32) years to sixty-nine (69) years and
DISCUSSION Skills
The study identified the main livelihoods determinant From the results, in order for a household to diversify,
identified were gender, availability of land, markets, skills human capital is an asset in diversification for rural
and level of education. livelihoods because the more the skills attained by a
household the easier it is to diversify. Artistic skills in
Gender tailoring, carpentry, farming, fishing, hunting etc. was not
acquired by most households through education but
The study revealed that women-men co-operation was a acquired through inheritance from previous generations.
one factor which contributes towards rural household Bediako shares his story, “The first thing my father gave
income. Awoy3 shared her experience, “I was a me when I started following him to farm was a cutlass and
fishmonger, and my husband was a fisherman”. However, a hoe and these are the tools we have been using
in Dokokyena community, where households are throughout our farming activities”. It was observed that,
dominantly farmers, it was observed that men were into individuals who are able to read and write were able
commercial farming whilst the women were into the advance their livelihoods especially non- farm activities.
subsistence farming. For instance, Atta says, “men are According to Khatun & Roy (2012) possession of a
more into commercial cashew farming whilst the women technical skill increases the possibility of a rural dweller
were also supporting us with growing and harvesting of getting a non-farm job and therefore diversifying their
pepper, garden eggs & okro cultivation”. livelihood. Newman & Canagarajah (1999) found in
Uganda that individuals who have an education have a
This finding is supported by (Harcourt, 2010; Eysenbach, higher likelihood of participating in non-farm activities than
2011; FAO, 2014) that, in some cultures, migratory wage those without any education.
labor or off-farm enterprises are basically men business,
which results in transferring to women the whole Diversification of rural livelihoods
responsibility for conventional subsistence and cash The three main livelihood alternatives are farming, fishing
cropping (the so called “feminization of agriculture”). and trading. Men had a greater degree of occupational
Culturally, women assist their husbands by processing and livelihood diversification than women. Sarah Alobo Loison
trading fish and farm produce. (2015) identifies two factors that trigger rural people to
diversify: push and pull factor. Push factors are negative
Land size factors that force them to seek additional income while the
pull factors are the positive factors that trigger rural
Fertile land and the Volta Lake were identified as potential households to improve upon their living standards.
physical assets for crop production, fish farming and Diversification is necessitated as a result of the seasonality
livestock. Large land sizes favored agricultural activities of farming and fishing, compounded by the less fertility of
whereas farm households with smaller mean land size are the land. For instance, Kojo says, “I am still farming but the
engaged in non-farm and off-farm livelihood diversification work is not active because the land is infertile”.
strategies. This is consistent with studies by Adugna Respondents also noted that rainfall patterns has changed
(2008) & Fikru (2008) that, farmers with smaller land size and there are long periods of drought. One pressing
are involved in off-farm diversification activities due to constraint in farming activities that make the households
small land sizes in order to support their household diverse into off- farm is the lack of credit to purchase farm
livelihoods. inputs and hire labour. Afram shares that “one challenge
on our farms is lack of money to purchase tractors and
Proximity to Market other farm tools”.
Communities closer to a town are able to source markets Effects of dam construction on rural livelihood
for their produce and also have a chance to access diversifications
facilities and infrastructure such as markets, banks, credit
facilities and health facilities that can further develop their The respondents revealed both positive and negative
livelihood. Amare & BelaIneh (2013) have shown that effects of the dam construction on their on-farm and non-
market distance and non/off-farm diversification had farm activities.
positive and significant relationship because residing
nearer to the market enables farm households to engage Positive effects of dam construction on rural
in non-farm activities (like petty trading and shop keeping). livelihood diversifications
This study supports the results that proximity to market has
a significant influence on both non-farm and farm activities According to International Council on Mining and Metals
among the rural households. Respondents admitted that (ICMM, 2006), large dams provide many benefits to rural
access to market is very essential in their farm and non- communities such as increased and assured water
farm activities. availability for domestic and industrial purposes. Social
infrastructures such as schools improves the skills of rural even though dams are designed mainly to meet the needs
people in non- farm activities (Asmal, 2000) and dirty roads of the beneficiaries the consequences of these projects on
and paths are constructed to provide easy access to the social and environmental costs far outweigh any
market for trading activities (Niasse, 2005). benefits that dams may contribute after rural resettlement.
Lands offered to affected persons eligible for land
The period of construction and aftermath of the dam has compensation have been identified to be small and of poor
brought about some positive impact in agricultural quality. Most households complained of displacing the
activities of the communities. Each household was given a whole community in terms of the evacuation process and
grant of one hundred Ghana cedis (GHS 100) every month resettlement outcome. Their farmlands and homes were
for one year during the construction. In addition, a flooded by the dam and they had no choice than to move
borehole, places of convenience and a of two bedroom to the resettlement site. Even though they have been
house with a kitchen, a bath and a living room was given compensated with accommodation and money, they
to each household. Mr Kwasi expressed his satisfaction by complained bitterly of the loss of fertile farmlands
saying “I am okay with the money and house given to me especially commercial farms. Mr. Enoch explains this
and my family”. Mr. Andoh added that “the money given to event saying “the money given us was just for one year
me is enough to purchase seedlings for planting”. Others and it can’t compensate my cashew farm which takes
were compensated with land which they used for crop about 4 to 6 years to harvest”. Lands offered to affected
production and irrigated it with water from the borehole persons eligible for land compensation have been
provided. Some part of land outside the dam site was identified to be small and of poor quality since lands further
flooded with water and provided fishing grounds for the from the river is less fertile. Fish farming was adversely
rural people attracting people from different communities affected. The flood has changed the route of the fishes and
for fishing. Kofi shares that “I travelled all the way from Yeji this has resulted in lower catch by fishermen. Abdalla
to fish here”. shares that “as the flood increases, the fishes are carried
away and the few ones left has been over-exploited
As a result of the dam construction, roads were leaving no fish in the lake”. Another added, “we the
constructed easing access to the market. Aisha narrates fishermen were resettled with dry land and we have been
her incidence of being injured through a motor accident banned from fishing in the Volta Lake”.
before the roads were constructed. She said “due to bad
roads, on my way to the market, i fell to the ground and Livestock farmers have also lost grazing fields to the floods
smirched the tomatoes I was going to sell”. Trading and have caused death among live stocks due to
activities has improved as a result of good roads because starvation. In non- farm activities, women were more
drivers were reluctant to ply their routes and so they had affected because they were into trading of farm produce
to walk long distances to sell their produce. Other non- and non- timber forest products. A woman said “My
farm activities such as carpentry, boat mending, fish husband’s harvest is poor due to infertility of the land”. This
processing etc. has improved. Increased fishing calls for was highlighted by Mrs Badu who shares that “If there is
many boat menders and fish mongers. The staffs of Bui poor harvest of cassava, I cannot sell the few cassavas to
Power Authority engage the services of carpenters, food customers and at the same time use some to cook”. Mrs.
sellers, hairdressers etc. A school provided as part of their Akoto also explains that “I used to pick mushrooms and
compensation package has enabled parents to send their leaves in the forest and sell but it has been flooded”. Loss
children to school. Mr. Owusu says that “I send all my of fishing has led to loss of livelihood for boat menders.
children to school so that they will become big people in Most of the rural people have migrated to urban towns and
future and will not depend only on farming” The Bui dam this has led to loss of clients for people who are into non-
has served as a tourist site where people come to view and farm activities. Finally, wage labour has also been affected
learn about the development of the dam. This has created with low non-farm income as there are few and infertile
opportunity for the people to sell their produce to these lands left to plough. Those that work as tour guides in the
tourists. Bui Power Authority (BPA) also a source of Bui National Park also complain of low visits of tourist on
employment for some of them. Benson recounts that “I the site. Mr Andam explains that “tourists visit the park to
used to work for BPA as a mason when they started view hippos but part of the park has been inundated and
constructing the dam alongside working on my farm”. has displaced the animals”. Farmers who worked as
masons during the construction of the dam have gone
Negative effects of dam construction on rural back to their infertile lands because the construction is
livelihood diversifications over. Apart from the livelihood activities affected by the
dam, the health of the rural people was also affected.
Inspite of the positive impacts outlined, it was noticed that Stagnant waters caused by the flooding have created safe
the negative effects outnumbered the positive ones. havens for insects such as mosquitoes causing malaria
Anderson, 2010 confirms this observation by stating that causing river blindness (Onchocerciasis).
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