Agriculture

Tema West Municipal area is predominantly a semi-industrial area however; peri-urban Agriculture is practiced throughout the Municipality.

Farmers in the Tema West Municipality do all year round farming. Farming activities in the Municipality are mainly done around the ramsar site and inner city gardening and crop farming activities are done under rain fed and irrigation. Soil in the Municipality are mainly composed of sandy-loam, clayey-loam and humus. The vegetation zones in the Municipality comprises of the following: shrub land, grassland etc. The grassland in areas such as Klagon, lashibi, Borteyman etc. supports livestock farming.

Agricultural activities are characterized by the following activities:

Exotic vegetable production (cucumber, lettuce, cabbage, radish, parsley, sweet pepper and cauliflower). Chili pepper, bonnet pepper, tomato, ‘gboma’, ‘ayoyo’ amaranthus, onion, okra are cultivated in Borteyman, Klagon and Sakumono.

The Municipality has a comparative advantage of producing fresh maize for the market and this brings market women from far and near to buy.

Poultry (local and exotic), micro livestock (grass cutter, rabbit and guinea fowl), small ruminants, cattle and pigs are reared.

Aquaculture (catfish/tilapia) and Agro-processing (‘wele’ and fish) production also takes place in Tema West. Fish catch (catfish/tilapia) for 2018 was 191.63(MT). An afforestation project by Forestry commission in collaboration with Game and Wildlife and EPA with Agric Department providing technical support has been established along the ‘manahuma’ river which flows into the ‘sakumo’ lagoon.

There is an intensive and semi-intensive system of rearing livestock animals in the Municipality which are more prevalent than the extensive system because of the pressure on lands in TWMA. Livestock production (Cattle, pigs and small ruminants) in the Municipality focuses mainly on both hybrid and local breeds.

The Municipality has one functional abattoir that is Tema/Accra Abattoir located in Community 20. Animals are slaughtered under hygienic conditions and supervised by meat inspectors from the Department of Agriculture. There is an existing animal breeding station at Nungua farms which also accommodates the National Service livestock farm.

Inadequate forage due to high rate of urbanization and estate development, high cost of feeding and other inputs are some challenges facing the livestock production in the Municipality. Crop production has reduced significantly over the years, and this can be attributed to a number of factors but prominent among them is urbanization and encroachment of land at ramsar site.