The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) has called on farmers to contribute to the nationwide fight against illegal mining.
Nana Ameyaw Manu, a former Vice Chairman of the PFAG who gave the advice, called on the farmers to report suspected illegal mining activities going on in their respective communities to the security services.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Techiman in the Bono East Region, Nana Ameyaw noted that the growing illegal mining activities was having a devastating toll on farming, with the country losing its arable farmlands.
He said if not controlled, illegal mining would “put the nation’s food security under siege”, saying that the “present situation is extremely affecting crop yields and slowing down food productivity”.
“In fact, our study has shown that food crops and cocoa are not doing well in most of the communities devastated by illegal mining”, Nana Ameyaw stated, and urged farmers to also do more and protect their farms from illegal mining and sand mining.
He regretted that many of the young farmers belonging to the association were not leaving farming for illegal mining.
Nana Ameyaw said illegal logging was also another challenge destroying the forest cover and urged the farmers to also report chainsaw operators to the Forestry Commission and the security agencies.
In another interview, Madam Rebecca Nana Serwaa Twumwaa, a farmer in vegetable production and economic crops, told the GNA that the pollution and destruction of water bodies by illegal miners had slowed down vegetable production.
Source: GNA
