One hundred and sixty-nine hectares of rehabilitated cocoa farms in five communities within the Nkawie Cocoa District of Ashanti Region has come under attack by a foreign-owned mining firm.
The company’s gold exploration and development activities are currently underway in the cocoa producing communities. The prospecting activity is being carried out at Brahabebome, Nkotonmire, Ouagadougou, Apuoyem and Brosanko.
Prior to the Cocoa Rehabilitation Programme, the affected communities continuously recorded a decline in cocoa production due to the outbreak of the Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease (CSSVD) and over-aged farms. But the intervention brought a semblance of life and hope to the cocoa farmers.
However, attempts to destroy the cocoa farms to pave way for mining of gold has created tension among farmers in the affected communities.
63-year-old Nsiah Asare has been depending on his 21-acre cocoa farm as a main livelihood since 1989. With proceeds from his farm, the sexagenarian has been able cater for the needs of his family.
But Mr Asare’s dream of passing the cocoa farm on to his children is fading away as his faces threat of destruction.
“The mining company came to negotiate with me to hand over my farm to them, but I declined. Farming is part of my life, and I can’t do away with it. So, we are pleading with government to intervene and stop the mining in this area”, he pleaded.
For Mavis Asare, it will be difficult for her to lose the two and half acre cocoa farm bequeathed to her by her late husband.
“This is the only property my children and I have. And this is what feeds us and cater for the education of all my four children. How are we going to survive after losing this farm? Why are farmers in this country being treated like we don’t matter?, the 47-year-old questioned.
Presently, the company is prospecting for gold on 169 hectares of cocoa farm, majority of which is under rehabilitation by the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD).
But the regulator says, its checks show about 4,300 hectares of cocoa farm have been targeted by the mining company.
According to COCOBOD, the farms are being destroyed without authorization as required by law.
“COCOBOD is now using the Economic Plant Protection Act to protect cocoa trees. The law says nobody has the right to destroy any cocoa tree without seeking proper permission from COCOBOD through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
“Per the figures we have, over 4,000 hectares of cocoa farms are going to be affected and we can’t allow this to happen, especially with the continuous decline in cocoa production in the country”, head of Anti-illegal Mining Unit at COCOBOD, Professor Michael Kwarteng explained.
The mining firm, MIGOP Mines Limited, has however refuted any claims of illegality.
Public Relations Manager, Richard Gyasi insists the company has met all the necessary requirements to undertake prospecting.
“We are working under the confines of the law and the Minerals Commission has given us the license to do the exploration. It’s been indicated in the document that when we destroy any crop, we will have to pay the farmer and that is exactly what we are doing. When we are done with the exploration and are successful, then we can begin the proper mining. That is when we have to compensate affected farmers per the law stipulates”, Mr Gyasi said.
Cocoa production in the country has been on decline since 2021, dropping from one million metric tonnes to 480 thousand metric tonnes in 2024.
In April 2022, Ghana Cocoa Board revealed over 19,000 hectares of cocoa farms had been destroyed as a result of illegal gold mining activities.
Again, in the same year, in 2022, Ghana defaulted on its cocoa supply with foreign buyers for the first time in history. This means Ghana could not produce enough cocoa to honour contracts it had already received payment for.
With the rate of decline in production, Ghana is likely to lose out as the world’s second largest producer of cocoa if nothing is done to prevent the further destruction of cocoa farms.