Joshy Vacke, Country Manager of Nyonkopa, addressing the farmers
Cocoa farmers in the country have been tasked to reject any sumptuous financial packages that illegal miners, popularly known as ‘galamseyers’ will offer to them to turn their farms into mining sites.
Deputy Director in-charge of Operations at Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), James Kofi Kutsoasi, stated that the current trend whereby farmlands were being turned into mining sites pose great danger to food production in the country.
He therefore entreated producers of cocoa, which is a key foreign exchange earner for the country, not to succumb to any pressure or juicy financial packages to give out their cocoa farms to people for mining duties.
Mr. Kutsoasi was speaking at the Cocoa Horizons Farmers durbar, which was organized by Nyonkopa Cocoa Company to announce premium for Cocoa farmers at New Edubiase in the Ashanti region.
Over 9,000 cocoa farmers from different cocoa growing communities within the Nyonkopa catchment area would have their lives enriched with a staggering GH¢288,817.00 premium.
The premium was geared towards motivating the cocoa farmers to increase their cultivation so as to help increase their produce, which would automatically lead to improving the livelihoods of the cocoa farmers and reducing poverty.
He said cocoa production was more beneficial to the country in terms of raking in revenue for the country for developmental purposes than illegal mining which usually leads to destruction of the environment.
Mr. Kutsoasi complained bitterly about how illegal mining activities had led to destruction of water bodies, which were the source of drinking water for most people who were living in the rural areas.
He warned that if care was not taken, the country’s rich forest would soon be completely destroyed due to the devastating effects of illegal mining, reminding cocoa farmers about the need for them to resist illegal mining.
Country Manager of Nyonkopa, Joshy Vacke, disclosed that Nyonkopa is the first company to pay premium to 9,000 cocoa farmers in 13 districts in the country after eight months of existence.
He said the company, as part of its social intervention programmes, was providing schools, potable drinking water, ICT centers, libraries and health facilities to cocoa farming communities.
From I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi