Agric Minister, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto has warned of the dire impact of illegal small-scale mining activities (galamsey) on the country’s cocoa sector.
Speaking to Kumasi-based Luv FM, the minister said galamsey could trigger a ban on Ghana's cocoa if traces of cyanide, mercury and other chemicals are ever detected in the beans.
The possible ban he admits will have a rippling effect on the country’s economy as cocoa export constitutes a major foreign exchange earner.
“It is very important. It is the water pollution, cyanide and other chemicals, mercury that go into the food chain and ends up in our stomachs.
“To me, that is the most dangerous part, it is not the quantity but it is the negative environmental impact…If we send a consignment of cocoa to say Belgium and they tested and find any trace, they could ban our cocoa exports.
“So it is not so much the impact of the production as to endangering our international trade, and the only thing we have is cocoa.
“Immediately, the danger of these cyanide and these very dangerous chemicals going into our products, which we send abroad, will endanger our export earnings which for me is the biggest concern,” Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto stated.
The Agric Minister is not the only one to warn of the possible international ban on Ghana's cocoa beans. Information Minister Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah in a post earlier this week, cautioned of a similar situation when he posted on Facebook that Ghana’s cocoa and coffee could be banned from the EU under new rules.
However, the European Union in Ghana has allayed fears of a ban adding that the new legislation is to be used as a check to improve the quality of cocoa beans from Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire – the two world leaders in export of the product.
“There is no EU ban on Ghanaian cocoa. On the contrary, we want more. The EU regulation would be used as an opportunity to improve the quality of cocoa from Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. And we are helping these two countries to meet sustainability expectations,” it tweeted on October 4.
Ghana has been waging war on the activities of illegal miners however it is widely believed that the fight has not yielded the desired results.
The discolored nature of water bodies as well as general environmental degradation has been used as a testament to the failed fight.
Agric Minister Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto