Impact of Mining on Livelihoods of Rural Households. A Case Study of Farmers in the Wassa Mining Region, Ghana

Radical reforms and liberalization in the mining sector of the Ghanaian economy stimulated increase in mining sector investment with new multinational mining companies coming on board as well as the rehabilitation of old mines. The cumulative effect was the intensification of mining and the expansion in the operation of mines across the mining zones in the country. Livelihoods of households in the rural communities in the catchments of the mines got threatened by the expansion of concessions to the mining companies. These concessions covered lands on which rural households engage their farming activities for a living. The immediate repercussion has been the taking over of farmlands by the mines, a process, which affects livelihoods in its entirety. This study examines the impact, both positive and negative, that this phenomenon has had on the livelihoods of these rural households. It further sought to identify the ways those farmers, who were negatively affected by the operations of the mines cope.