Galamsey is affecting cocoa production numbers - COCOBOD

According to him, if the current trend of devastation by illegal miners is not halted, the cocoa sector will suffer severely in the future.

He further opined that the illegal miners are brazenly taking their activities to huge investments by COCOBOD in cocoa-growing areas across the country.

“Some of them actually use other coercive means of taking over the cocoa farms. Some go to the traditional authorities who force usually the migrant farmers to say I gave you the land so I’m taking over my land. And then they give these lands to the illegal miners. Sometimes they (illegal miners) actually start digging the farm before the owners realize,’’ Mr. Boafo lamented in an interview with Joy News.

“In a very worrying trend, some cocoa farms that were diseased, COCOBOD had to sponsor to get these farms to start afresh. Just when the farms started seeing some flowers, the illegal miners have gone to clear everything. That is the extent of danger these illegal mining poses to our industry,” he added.

Mr. Boafo also stated that if illegal mining is allowed to continue without punishment, the country’s cocoa industry will be in danger.

Stakeholders in the fight against illegal mining including Security operatives, the Minerals Commission, ministries and other stakeholders must put their shoulders to the wheel in the fight against the illegal mining fight.

In a related development, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said he is unsure if the notorious galamsey queen, Aisha Huang, was in fact deported in 2018 for engaging in illegal small-scale mining or not.

Aisha Huang was arrested in 2018 and was believed to have been deported after she was found to have been engaged in illegal mining in the country.

Ghanaians on social media have expressed shock and disgust at the President’s recent comment on Aisha Huang.