TROBENBOS Ghana, an environmental Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), has called on stakeholders in the cocoa production value chain, the Government and traditional authorities to institute better mining standards to save the cocoa industry and protect the environment.
The NGO noted that illegal mining activities were partly to blame for the current decline in cocoa production.
Therefore, the authorities must uphold proper and responsible mining practices to protect farmlands and save the cocoa industry from total collapse, Mr Francis Fofie, the Communication Officer, TROPENBOS Ghana, said in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA).
He urged the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, and the Minerals Commission to ensure licensed mining firms or individuals put in pragmatic measures to reclaim lands as that was the only way to protect the environment.
“If measures are not taken to ensure responsible mining, cocoa production would reduce drastically in the near future and the nation would suffer,” he noted.
“The activities of galamsey defeats the purpose of the Green Ghana project so the Ministry must ensure proper mining, especially in cocoa regions and districts, in order not to destroy the environment.”
He cited the Asuobia Community Resource Management Area (CREMA), funded by the World Bank through the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources in the Elluokrom cocoa district, as one of the initiatives that could go to waste if illegal mining activities were allowed in that operational area.
Touching on some of the NGO’s interventions for cocoa farmers, he mentioned alternative livelihood for more than 1,500 Cocoa farmers in the Elluokrom cocoa district, Climate Smart Cocoa initiative, and financial literacy among others with support from other NGOs.
