The General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has expressed concern about the effects of illegal mining (Galamsey) on farmlands.
Members of the Union fear that the country risks food shortage if the trend continues.
“Food security has become one of the scariest looming pandemics in Ghana. This has been necessitated by several challenges, including the galamsey menace of which agriculture is the most affected sector, plaguing the nation with little to no efforts by the state apparatus,” GAWU said in a press release dated September 16.
“Galamscy remains one of the major threats to agriculture, exposing the whole nation to challenges of scarcity and expensive food and crops with damning consequences of climate change, health implications for citizen, and our unborn children.
“With over seven thousand four hundred and seventy (7,470) cluster categories of Galamsey in the country, according to ResearchGate, galamscy has led to the destruction of farmlands, water bodies exposing several informal workers to job and income insecurities across the country. Ghana has lost about 2.5 million hectares of forest reserve to illegal and uncontrolled mining. This is a huge threat to biodiversity,” they lamented.
GAWU noted that ” Galamsey remains an extremely dangerous and treacherous type of illegal mining activity which has forced several farmers to give up their farmlands either through coercive scans or out of frustration of no hope in our systems and structures put in plats to fight it. The negative effect of illegal and uncontrolled mining on Cocoa is unprecedented.”
They cautioned that, “The environmental impact of galamsey has far- reaching consequences on ecosystems, biodiversity, and natural resources. The vegetation is stripped away along with the topsoil, leading to sop loss and unfavourable micro-climatic conditions for cocoa cultivation. This degradation of natural resources undermines the potential for sustainable economic growth, particularly in sectors dependent on a healthy environment such as agriculture and forestry.”
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