I ooefzz.r I ANNEX I-1 I d OTrcHOCERCIASTS CONIROL IN ITIE VOLTA RIVER BA.SIN AREA Report prepared for the GovornDents of Dahoney, Ghana, lvory Coast, Mali, Niger Togo and Upper Volta a ANNEK I.1. TI{E PIIYSICAL, HIJMAN AI.ID ECONOTI{IC GEOGRAPHY OF THE VOLTA RTVER BASIN AREA Geneva 1973 I I I 7 I a I a t United Nations Development Programme L t. Food and Agriculture Organization of the Unrted Nations I International Bank for Reconstruction and Development t Wor1d HeaIth Organization t Annex I-1 page i PHYSICAL, HUtt{AN AI,ID ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY OF ltlE VOLTA RMR BASIN AREA a Contents t Page t INTRODUCTION I l. I The purpose of the study I I.2 The socio-economic and health si tuatlon I I.3 The content of the study 2 2 METHODOLOGY ATTD RESULTS 2 2.L The interactions between development factors as component parts of a study of human geography . 2 2.2 Degree of accuracY . 3 2.3 The graphical method 4 3 THE SOrL/POPULATION RELATIONSHI PS 5 3.I The population-supporting capacity of the soil 5 3.2 Population density and the load on the soil t4 3.3 Ttre soil-population balance 2L 4 TI{E RESOURCES OF THE SUBSOIL . 23 4.1 Mines and quarries 24 4.2 Groundwater resources . 34 5 TIIE SECONDARY SECTOR 40 5.1 Handicrafts and agricultural industries 40 5,2 FUture prospects and posslble trends 4L 6 TTIE TERTIARY SECTOR 42 7 MEAT.IS OF DEVELOPMENT 43 7,1 The infrastructures . 43 7.2 Facilities 48 I 8 THE CONCEPT OF A REGIONAL FRAMEWORK 54 8.1 The new resources-population ratio 54 8.2 T?re concept of a "pole" . 55 o 8.3 The administrative hlerarchy of the centres . 55 8.4 The reglonal framework 56 Annex I-l page ii page 9. TERMS OF REFERE.ICE FOR THE FEASIBILITY STUDIES 56 a 9.1 Demographic studies 57 9.2 Physical studles 5? 9.3 Economic geography studies 57 a 9,4 Overall geographical studies 58 10. REFEREX{CES 59 APPENDIX 1 . 115 APPENDIX 2 13r APPENDIX 3 141 I a Annex I-1 page I 1. II\MRODT'CIION 1.1 The purpose of the study I 2 I. Oving to the size of the region concerned (i.e., an area of nearly 7OO OOO km and about IO million inhabitants, see Fig. t-l.1) and the duration (2O years) and a cost of the operations, the Onchocerciasis Control Prograrnroe cannot be regarded sinply as a health operation. Consequently, an evaluation has been made of the economic advantages that would result fron the inplementation of the progranme, and this is accompanied by a study of the present social and economic situation to show under what conditions and by what means the economic advantages could most readily I be obtained. 2. A study of physical, human, and economic Beography is therefore included in the proBrarntne since a survey of the area resources and population will enable existing population movements to be explained and their future pattern forecast. For thls reason the nain factors affecting population distribution have been listed to provide an explanation for the population map as it is now and a basis for making assumptions about future changes in the appearance of the map. 3. In essence, these factors are as follows (see Figs L-L.25'I-L.27)z - the resources of the subsoil (water and minerals) and the soil (its agri- cultural potential) ; - the extent to whlch these resourees are being exTloitod today (mtning; utilization of ground water supplies; agriculture - area cultivated and yields; stock-farBing - present production, land occupation; industry; handicrafts; tourisn; etc. ) ; - plans for future exPloitation; - the potential available for exploitatlon. r.2 The socio-economic and hea Ith situation 4. The area covered by the onchocerciasis contror Programme is far from homogeneous from whatever point of view it is considered (the natural environment, population' economy). Th€ importance attached to each of the factors analysed therefore varies ) in the different countries of the prograrme area. [.ong and complicated operations were needed to reduce various data to a homoBeneous format and at the same time a safeguard their local importance. The ains and €xtent of the Onchocerciasis Control Programme also vary in different areas since the degree of infection and the economic potential of the infected areas are not uniforn. tI Th. only figures included in thrs report are I-1.28 to I-1.3I, and I-1-33. Because of their size the other fiBures are presented separately. Annex I-1 page 2 5. One result of this lack of uniformity has been to restrict the scope of the study, already limited by the relatively short time available for the field studies and the processing of the collected data. a 1.3 The con tofthes 6. As a geographical description of the Volta River basin area is given in the a Report, this supplementary study deals only with the foltowing points: the population-supporting capacity of the soil; the population load it bears at present; the soil-population ratio; other development factors expressed in terms of employnent; the infrastructure and equipment required; and the concept of a regional framework. 2. METTIODOITGY AI{D RESULTS 2.L The interactions between development factors as conponent parts of a study of human geography 7. Huraan geographical data (population, population density, migratory movements, etc.) are simply the material expression of the socio-economic situation. The preparation of corresponding maps must therefore be accompanied by an interpretation of the situation. 8. A map of the present population shows areas of light and dense occupation, areas that are emptyinB, areas that are filling up, and so on. These phenomena depend on social factors and a highly organized social structure may prevent or stimulate migration; a particular way of cultivating the land may produce high yields and lead to a high population density, etc. Economic factors are also important: a high income per hectare may attract people to an area; too great a difference between urban and rural incomes may produce a migratory movenent; the development of new land may bring tne soil/Oopulation ratio into balance again; the establishment of infrastructures may bring about changes in the route followed by migratory movernents and may also alter the settlement pattern. The same applies to the creation of new employment; the opening of new work places; the introduc- tion of various services, leisure facilities, etc. An analysis of the socio- econonic position may explain existing hutran geography but it is also indispensable for the preparation of maps to show the hypothetical future population distribution. A map of this kind is nost useful in view of the wide extent and long duration of I the control prograrume. It was therefore necessary to enumerate these factors and examine their interactions. a Annex I-1 page 3 2.2 Degree of accuracy g. When different factors have to be related to one another and several countri€s I are involved, two kinds of problem ari.se as regards the accuracy of the results. 10. The first probleln involves the exanination of a single factor such as I population in a single country - Upper Vo1ta, for example - and leads to the conclusion that the data relating to this factor are usually very heterogeneous. In the exanple given, the population data were collected in different years between 195? and 1969 ln different administrative units (villages, districts' strata) by different methods with a varying degree of accuracy (enumeration, sample surveys, or simpte estimates). tn order to obtain from this nass of inforration the data needed for a given year, some kind of intermediate factor such as the growth rate is required. However, growth rates are not always available and it is sometines necessary to resort to extrapolation. A sinilar Bethod can be used for the other countries but their data are not of the saBe type. Consequently, the degree of accuracy can vary greatly by country and factor. In the programme area the co- efficient of error for the country with the least precise information was applied to the partlcular factor except in cases where the deviation from the oean was too great. In that way homogeneous data were obtained for a given factor in the area as a whole. 11. The second problem arises because each factor expressed in terms of uniform data for the programme area has to be related to other factors. For example population has to be related to the area occupied, but the data relating to area occupied have passed through a process similar to that used to obtain population data. For the progranme area the process does not necessarily result in data of the same deBree of accuracy as those obtained for the other factors. Ttle degree of accuracy of the various factors has therefore to be coordinated for the whole prograrme area. The principle adopted is the same for all data; namely, to reduce the data to the degree of accuracy of the least accurate factor, except in cases where the nargin of error of the latter is too great. L2. In short, the method used was: (1) to apply to each factor the degree of accuracy of the country where a accuracy was lowest, unless the devlation fron the mean in the latter case was too wide, a (2) to apply to the factors as a whole the degree of accuracy of the least accurate country, except in cases where the marBin of error was too great.