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Cocoa farmers in Akyem Juaso in the Fanteakwa South District in the Eastern Region bemoan that the footpaths that lead to their farms and uncovered pits is causing a threat to them due to the illegal mining activities in the township by the illegal miners.
This he said is making it challenging for them in their cocoa farming.
The Dwantoahene of Akyem Juaso and a Cocoa Buyer, Nana Asare, stated in an interview Radio 1 News that because the illegal miners are mining from the forest and heading into the town, the footpaths to their farms are always being diverted and they also leave their pits uncovered after they are through with their mining.
The Galamsey activities have even rendered the farmers the inability to locate their boundaries which usually bring about confrontations among the famers. Not only has the ‘Galameyers’ left them with begrudging each other but also left them with hardships and reduction in cocoa farm produce.
Nana Asare said because some of the pits have been left uncovered for months and the others are not properly covered, they have become deathtraps not only to humans but to animals too. He said some lives have been lost in the previous years both young and adults and currently the mining activities is breeding mosquitoes in the town which has led to the spread of Malaria in the town. He added that a child died recently in one of the uncovered pits.
Other cocoa farmers that spoke to the News team claimed that this has put fear into them by going to their farms with their children especially the little one because the uncovered pits are many on their routes and on the farms. They said their fear is that their children can fall into the uncovered pits.
By: Radio1News|Ghana
