Galamsey ‘consumes’ 130k acres of cocoa, oil palm plantation

The General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) of TUC-Ghana has raised a red flag on the destructive activities of illegal mining, describing the menace as a potential looming pandemic on the country’s food security agenda.

A press statement signed by the Union’s General Secretary, Andrews Addoquaye Tagoe, and copied to the B&FT said galamsey remains one of the major threats to agriculture, exposing the nation to challenges of scarcity and expensive food, with damning consequences of climate change and critical health implications for the citizenry.

With over seven thousand four hundred and seventy (7,470) cluster categories of galamsey in the country, GAWU noted  that the country has lost about 2.5 million hectares of forest reserve to illegal and uncontrolled mining  – a phenomenon it maintains have become a huge threat to biodiversity.

More importantly, the union disclosed that over hundred thousand acres of cocoa farms have been destroyed, with over thirty thousand acres more of oil palm plantations savaged.

“The few farmers who are sacrificing to produce food to feed the country and for export,  have to also deal with challenges related to irrigation as water bodies remain polluted and unsafe when exposed to crops,” GAWU indicated.

According to the union, several farmers have been forced to give up their farm lands either through coercive means or out of frustration of no hope in the agricultural system.

Cocoa or oil palm are the most common cash crop cultivated in almost every rural household in Ghana; however, the union said the country’s place in producing cocoa and oil palm is disappointing not because of inabilities to do so, but as a result of encroachment and farmers being forced to leave their farms unwillingly to make way for galamsey activities in many of these communities.

For instance, the union indicated that Ghana loses some US$2billion annually to destruction of cocoa farms for galamsey activities.

The union also announced its solidarity with organised labour and other civil society organisations to call on government to declare a state of emergency to salvage the situation.

Demands of GAWU

The union has asked President Akufo-Addo to act swiftly to salvage agricultural lands and water bodies without further delay.

It also asked government to prioritise the reclamation of destroyed lands and the restoration of polluted water bodies.

Furthermore, GAWU is asking for the immediate revocation of LI 2462, and the arrest and prosecution of persons/groups destroying cocoa farms, oil palm plantations and other  agricultural lands for purposes of galamsey.