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COCOBOD Executive Director Joseph Boahen Aidoo calls on security agencies to step up the fight against illegal miners whose activities are destroying acres of cocoa farms.
Boahen Aidoo said: “[When] they come [and] farmers are not interested in giving up their land, then the next time they go to their farms they discover that the farms have already been invaded and then destroyed. Therefore, I am taking this opportunity to ask security agencies to step up their efforts to deal with Galamsey. It’s sad. It is very, very sad to come and see the work of the farmers in this state. It is very sad.
He made the appeal during a tour to inspect the progress of the current mass pruning exercise. During the tour, Boahen Aidoo and his COCOBOD entourage came across a cocoa farm that had been the victim of devastating activities by galamsey operators (illegal miners).
Frightened, as the COCOBOD team approached their base of operations, the miners quickly stood up in different directions, leaving behind their tools and machinery as they disappeared into the surrounding bushes.
Mr. Boahen Aidoo and his team were returning from interacting with some executives and members of a cocoa farmers cooperative in Osino, in the Eastern Region, who, incidentally, had complained about the activities of illegal miners in their community, during interaction. .
On the way back, the team noticed a series of wells, starting from the edge of a farm along the way. The wells, which seemed to continue deep into the farm, were indicative of Galamsey’s operations on the farm and that led to the decision to stop to inspect that farm.
The size of the wells was visibly larger and more destructive as the team walked around the farm, until they reached a large clearing in the middle of the cocoa farm where cocoa trees used to grow, but had now become the site of a great galamsey. operation. Here the land was full of craters with some of the largest mining pits, many layers of soil on the ground. What used to be arable land was now a scene of devastation.
Undoubtedly disturbed by what he had just witnessed, Joseph Boahen Aidoo described the scene as a “very, very sad” situation that amounted to the destruction of “the backbone of the economy.”
“You can see how the illegal miners, the operators of Galamsey, have devastated not only the land, but the cocoa farm that used to be here,” said the COCOBOD chief in his condemnation of the situation. “… now everything is gone. They just destroyed everything. They have devastated this land and then cocoa, which is the backbone of the country. So, more or less, it is the country’s economy that is being destroyed. These they are clear saboteurs from Ghana. “
The activities of Galamsey operators are one of the main challenges facing cocoa farmers in Ghana and the industry in general. The threat threatens to undo the investments made by the government to modernize cocoa cultivation and increase yields.
The eastern region, where this incident occurred, along with the western, northern western and Ashanti regions are the most affected by illegal mining.
“The President has asked all of us to stop illegal mining; to stay away from Galamsey, however, you have recalcitrant citizens who are still engaged in illegal mining, ”said Boahen Aidoo.
“I think this used to be someone’s farm. The person has worked, sweating over the years to grow these cocoa. … they just destroyed everything. And if you can get people in Ghana to destroy our own economy; the backbone of the economy. So what’s the fate of this country? It’s sad and I think security agencies will have to step up their operations on these illegal miners because if we’re not careful, they will destroy the entire cocoa industry. “
