Poverty and livelihood diversification: Exploring the linkages between smallholder farming and artisanal mining in rural Ghana

Abstract

This article draws attention to the importance of promoting and regularizing artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM)-low-tech, labour-intensive mineral extraction and processing activity-in sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on the case of Ghana. An estimated one million people are employed directly in the sector in the country, the majority operating illegally (without a license or on unlicensed lands) and in very precarious conditions. The difficulty with reprimanding these people is that many have moved into ASM out of necessity, 'branching out' from smallholder farming, which in many areas of Ghana has become an unviable enterprise over the past two decades. A case study of the Brong-Ahafo Region, the location of Ghana's most recent gold discoveries, is used to illustrate the growing interconnectedness between the two activities and the imperativeness of recognizing these dynamics in policy. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.