The former Executive Director of the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG), Dr Charles Nyaaba, has expressed worry about the growing number of youth in mining communities abandoning farming to engage in illegal mining activities, popularly referred to as galamsey.

Speaking at a thought leadership forum organised by Media General in Accra on Wednesday, September 25, 2024, he indicated that the illegal mining activities threaten the country's food production.

“Majority of the youth have moved to galamsey because it fetches them money, our agric is virtually left in the hands of the aged. The issue of galamsey on food production is something we can’t doubt. In a few years, or 10 years to come we will not have any agricultural activities in the galamsey areas," he noted.

He added "Galamsey areas were known to be major food baskets some years ago. Today we cannot say same because of galamsey activities. We had a lot of outgrowers. Our agriculture is virtually left in the hands of the aged. When you go to galamsey areas, major crops we used to get some years back, they are not getting.

"We had 2 million peasant farmers. According to data released by Forestry Commission about 1.5 million farmers have lost their farms. Some of them have migrated to other areas and others have gone into galamsey.”

Public discussions on galamsey resurfaced in the country on August 31, 2024, when the Ghana Water Company Limited attributed water supply challenges in the Central Region to illegal mining activities.

JKB/ ADG

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