A Cocoa farmer in Adansi Akrofuom district located in the Ashanti Region, Kwabena Danquah, has lamented that galamseyers in the region are destroying the water bodies that they often use to water their cocoa farms.

According to him, the water bodies have lost their original colour as a result of the work of galamseyers and as such these water bodies are of no use to water their farms.

He disclosed this in an interview with Happy FM’s Don Prah on the ‘Epa Hoa Daben’ show.

“Cocoa farming is helping but there are a lot of tools that we need. As we work, it is as though some of the cocoas are affected by the scorching sun. The galamseyers are also disturbing the water with their activities. The Nsuta river has been affected by its activities to the extent that we don’t get water to water our cocoa farms”.

Kwabena Danquah related that with his 18 acres of cocoa farm, he is only able to produce on average 20 bags of cocoa a day.

The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources recently organized a two-day National Consultative Dialogue on small-scale mining at the Accra International Conference Centre to solicit views, proposals and suggestions from diverse stakeholders in the small-scale mining industry, to develop appropriate policy interventions for the sector.

Subsequently, President Nana Addo authorized the Ghana Armed Forces to deploy 200 soldiers to go after all persons involved in illegal mining as part of renewed efforts to fight galamsey.