Searching and Cracking: Stone Quarrying, Livelihood and the Environment in the Daglama Quarry Site in the Ho Municipality

Abstract

Adequate and secure livelihoods have become a major concern for both rural and urban dwellers. In these areas, economic hardship and poor agricultural yield, following the adverse effects of climate change have compelled many people to search for alternative livelihood strategies. In the Ho Municipality, stone quarrying has become one of the alternative livelihood strategies. Stone quarrying is a form of land use method concerned with the extraction of non-fuel and non-metal minerals from rocks. Using the qualitative model, the paper interrogates the impact of stone quarrying on the livelihoods of the workers and provides critical insights into the effects of stone quarrying on the environment. It finds economic hardship, unemployment, rural-urban migration as some reasons the inhabitants engage in stone quarrying in Daglama. It further finds stone quarrying as a source of livelihood in Daglama. However, the practice has negatively affected the environment. It has led to the destruction of arable land, forest reserves and others. The paper also highlights the negative health implications stone quarrying has on
the workers in the industry.