Mr. Stephen Fiifi Boafo, COCOBOD’s Head of Public Affairs, has emphasized the severe socioeconomic implications of illicit mining known as galamsey on the future lives of the country’s cocoa farmers.
Illegal miners, he claims, are depriving farmers of their lifetime profits as well as legacies they could leave to future generations.
He claims that, despite the fact that perpetrators of illegal mining activities make enticing promises to cocoa farmers, tempting them to give up their cocoa estates, these innocent farmers have ended up impoverished, with nothing to rely on upon retirement.
As a result, the Head of Public Affairs urged cocoa farmers to fight any attempt by illegal miners to persuade them to surrender their estates, so depriving them of their lifetime investments.
Mr. Boafo made the remark while speaking at a ceremony organized by Goldfields Ghana Limited management in Damang to hand over agro-inputs to selected beneficiary cocoa growers in their catchment villages.
Mr. Boafo reminded farmers of the many initiatives being implemented by the government, in partnership with the Ghana Cocoa Board and the National Pension Regulatory Authority (NPRA), to improve the lives of cocoa farmers, particularly in retirement.
“The introduction of the Cocoa Farmers Pension Scheme is meant to secure your future and provide you with a decent means of livelihood when you retire. As with other pension schemes, your monthly earnings will depend on your contributions which means that if you sell off your cocoa farms for mining activities, you are denying yourself and future generations the opportunity to earn decent livelihoods”, he added.
Apart from the Pension Scheme, he stated that COCOBOD is also executing many interventions to assist farmers, such as cocoa mass spraying, cocoa rehabilitation, trimming, hand pollination, and heavily subsidized fertilisers.
These, he claims, come at a high cost to the government, highlighting the need to protect the cocoa industry’s future by eliminating unlawful mining.
Mr. Fiifi Boafo expressed delight at Goldfields Ghana Limited’s contribution to cocoa farmers through their Cocoa Farmers Foundation Support Programme, noting that it is worthy of imitation by other mining corporations.
He stated that for many years, mining and cocoa production have coexisted harmoniously until the increase in illegal mining activities.
Mr. Fiifi Boafo believes that the example of Goldfields Ghana Limited demonstrates that responsible mining may assist improve our ecosystem and promote other environmental activities such as farming.
“Let me take this opportunity to commend the management of Goldfields Ghana Limited for this kind gesture to our cocoa farmers. It is my hope that our beneficiary farmers will respond same by meticulously applying these inputs on their farms in order to obtain yields”
Under the Gold Fields Ghana Farmers Foundation Support Programme, around 240 farmers got agro inputs.
