Cocoa farmers in Segyimase, Abuakwa South Municipality, and Osino, Fanteakwa South District, Eastern Region, have attributed the country’s decline in cocoa production to the continuous indiscriminate illegal mining activities and forceful takeover of cocoa plantations by illegal miners known as ‘galamseyers’.
In an interview with Channel One TV, some farmers revealed that poverty and the government’s lack of commitment pushed them to sell their cocoa fields to illegal miners.
Eno Lawrencia Akufo bemoaned the loss of her cocoa farm, which her son sold to illegal miners while she was away for a medical check-up in the regional capital.
Opanyin Emmanuel Takyi, an opinion leader and former Segyimase assemblyman, revealed how illicit mining activities had harmed 18 acres of his cocoa fields spread across three places.
Ghana’s cocoa output for the 2023/24 season is predicted to be over 40% lower than the objective of 820,000 metric tonnes, as worldwide cocoa prices reach $10,000 per tonne this year.
Ghana’s trade balance narrowed in the first four months of 2024, as cocoa exports fell. Cocoa output declined by around 50% year on year.
The scenario is similar to Osino in the Fanteakwa South district, where around 40 to 50 percent of cocoa crops have been sold to illegal miners. Mining has destroyed around 70% of Osino’s cocoa fields.
When the news team decided to check on the situation of an area that used to be a cocoa plantation near the main Accra Kumasi Highway, illegal miners were busy working.
They had excavated deep pits near to ECG poles and transmission lines, leaving them unprotected just 10 meters from the main highway.
During a working visit to the same location in 2022, the leadership of the Ghana National Small Scale Miners Association urged that anyone active in mining near the main Accra-Kumasi Highway be arrested immediately.
However, a year later, the situation has deteriorated further as illegal miners have mined the entire region, including under power poles, leaving them dangling.
