Socio-demographic profile of fuelwood traders

69 3 Material support 43 17 11 29 5 22 4 Reduce prices 3 9 - 2 21 7 5 Alternative livelihoods 17 - - 1 - 2 6 Ease access permit - 4 - 1 6 2 7 Police and FSD - 4 4 3 1 2 8 Stable fuel and vehicle parts price - 4 - 1 4 2 9 Available and affordable spare parts 3 - - - 4 1 10 Improve price and payment - - - 1 - 1 11 Form Association 3 - - 1 - 1 12 Woodlots - - 4 1 - 1 13 Any support to enhance business - - - 1 - 0.3 14 Improve demand - - 4 - - 0.3 15 Dredge volta river 3 - - - - 0.3 16 Increase transport fare - - - - 1 0.3

4.4 Fuelwood trading system

4.4.1 Socio-demographic profile of fuelwood traders

Age, gender, educational status and resident status of fuelwood traders Both men and women of middle age average 49 years across regions trade in fuelwood for fish smoking in coastal Ghana. However, the trade is dominated by women comprising 92 of the total sample of fuelwood traders interviewed across regions and approximately 100 in Greater Accra and Central Regions Table 26 and Figure 47. Table 26 Age of fuelwood traders Region Mean Age Years Std. Deviation Volta 51 16.3 Greater Accra 53 15.6 Central 50 14.4 Western 45 14.0 All regions 49 15.1 70  12 4 3 13 8 88 96 97 87 92 20 40 60 80 100 120 Volta Greater Accra Central Western All regions Traders R e g ion Gender of Fuelwood Traders Female Male Figure 51 Gender of fuelwood traders for the coastal fish smoking industry   20 40 60 80 Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Vo lta Gr ea te r Ac cr a Ce nt ra l W es te rn Al l r eg io ns Fuelwood traders Re gion Ge nde r Educational status among male and female fuelwood traders Tertiary SecondarySSS MiddleJSS Primary None Figure 52 Formal educational status of male and female fuelwood traders Forty to sixty percent of the female fuelwood traders have had no formal education particularly in the Central Region Figure 48. The majority 50 of the educated traders have had basic education i.e. primary-middlejunior secondary. Majority 77 and 97 of the fuelwood traders are respectively native and permanently resident in their communities across regions surveyed Figure 49. Over 80 have been living in these communities for more than 10years i.e. 11-92 years Figure 50 and an average of 36 years Table 27. 71 Table 27 Mean number of years lived in community-all regions combined N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation 388 0.5 92 36 21.35  56 71 77 54 64 29 26 14 43 31 15 3 9 3 5 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Volta Greater Accra Central Western All regions F ue lw oo d tr ade rs Region Residential status of fuelwood traders Native Settler Migrant Figure 53 Residential status of fuelwood traders  5 10 15 20 25 30 Volta Greater Accra Central Western All regions Fuelwood traders R e gi on No. of years traders have lived in community 80 71-80 61-70 51-60 41-50 31-40 21-30 11--20 0-10 Figure 54 Number of years traders have lived in their community 72  Household characteristics of fuelwood traders Majority of fuelwood traders are married ranging from 57 in Central to 64 in the Western Region. On average across regions, 39 of the traders are single parents Figure 53. Fuelwood traders are also responsible for large households. Household sizes for at least 97 of the traders range from 1-20 people with a few of them having 20-55 people Figure 54. The average across the regions is 8 people per household Table 28.  61 58 57 64 61 27 26 18 17 21 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Volta Greater Accra Central Western All Regions Fuelwood traders R e gi on Marital status of fuelwood traders Widow Divorced Married Single-never married Figure 55 Marital status of fuelwood traders Table 28 Mean household size for fuelwood traders-all regions combined N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation 414 1 55 8 5.3 73  20 40 60 80 100 Volta Greater Accra Central Western All regions Fuelwood traders R e gi on Size of fuelwood traders households 20 11--20 1--10 Figure 56: Household size distribution for fuelwood traders  Dependency on fuelwood trading for livelihood 34 44 46 42 43 66 55 54 58 57 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Volta Greater Accra Central Western All regions Fuelwood traders R e g ion Is fuelwood trading main economic activity? Yes No Figure 57 Reliance on fuelwood trading as main economic activityincome source 74 20 40 60 80 Volta Greater Accra Central Western All regions Fuelwood traders R e g ion Other economic activities undertaken by fuelwood traders Revenue collector Artisan Food processing Fishing Farming Petty trading Figure 58 Other economic activities undertaken by fuelwood traders for income

4.4.2 The fuelwood trading enterprise