45
Table 12 Frequency of fuelwood harvest during the minor fish season
Region Mean
Minimum Maximum
Std. Devi
ation
Volta 2
1 6
1.86 Greater
Accra 2
1 2
0.71 Central
2 1
3 0.79
Western 7
1 30
7.18 Eastern
4 1
13 3.15
Combine 4
1 30
4.98
4.2.7 Land use systems exploited for fuelwood
Generally, fuelwood used for smoking fish and for other food enterprises in the coastal and forest districts surveyed are secured from four main land use systems as follows:
Plantations –Mangrove, cassia, neem, acacia
Natural forests – on and off reserves
Farmlands including fallow lands Natural mangrove stands
27 50
39 58
56 49
65 42
44 22
8 29
9 8
17 20
36 22
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 Volta
Greater Accra Central
Western Eastern
All Regions
Producers
Re gi
on
Sources of fuelwood for fish smoking
Forest Plantation
Farmland
Figure 27 Proportion of producers indicating sources of fuelwood harvested
The major source of fuelwood for fish smoking is farmland, usually consisting of wood from clearing agricultural land as well as standing trees on fallows lands. Overall, 49 of the
producers acquire fuelwood from farmlands, 29 from plantations and 22 from natural forests stands on or off reserves. The 65 plantation source in the Volta Region is mainly
46
from mangroves while the 42 source in the Greater Accra is largely from neem and the 44 in the Central Region from Cassia, neem and acacia plantations. The main plantation
sources for the Western Region are from spentold rubber trees particularly from the farms of the Ghana Rubber Estates Company, while the 8 plantation source in the Eastern Region is
from spent cocoa and orangecitrus plantations Figure 26. The mean size of plantation is 10 acres, ranging from 0.5 -100 acres Table 13. Western and Eastern Regions abounds in
natural forests, hence, these are also significant sources i.e. 22 and 36 respectively of fuelwood for fish smoking.
Table 13Mean size of fuelwood plantation owned for all regions combined
All regions Size of Fuelwood plantation owned acres
Std. Deviation N
Mean Minimum
Maximum 85
9.56 0.5
100 16.2
Figure 28 Fuelwood plantation sizes owned
4.2.8 Regulationscontrols on accessing fuelwood for harvesting and passage to market
