“Genuine cocoa farm owners will never give their farms to galamsey operators”, COCOBOD CEO, Joseph Boahen Aidoo emphasized in an interview on Peace FM’s ‘Kokrokoo’ show Monday morning when host Kwami Sefa Kayi posed a question on the worrying state of cocoa farmers trading their lands to be used for illegal mining.
The COCOBOD CEO stated categorically that no farm owner who has worked hard to have the farm will willingly trade with illegal miners. He argued those who give their lands for galamsey are people who inherited their farms from either their parents or someone who gained the farm without shedding sweat.
“If you find someone giving his farm to galamsey operators, the person isn’t the real owner of the farm…Those who trade their farms all inherited it from maybe his or her deceased father or some relative who cannot maintain the farm…but for someone who owns the farm from his or her hard work and sweat, hardly will the person sell the farm no matter what,” he maintained.
He, however, acknowledged the plight of cocoa farmers in the country and recounted some social interventions by his outfit and government to address the problems; of which is digitizing cocoa farms and rolling out a cocoa management system among other
