The Chamber of Agribusiness is gearing up for a demonstration in response to the rampant destruction of agricultural farmlands by illegal miners.
The Chamber reports that over 1.2 million hectares of farmland have already been decimated, raising serious concerns among investors about the future of their agribusiness investments.
CEO Anthony Morrison voiced his frustration in an interview, stating that despite numerous complaints, illegal miners insist on destroying the land in search of resources such as gold.
“People’s investments have gone down the drain as a result of activities of illegal mining and galamsey actors. It is a call that we are working on this week. We intend to follow up with a press release and, after that, follow it up with a demonstration among the farmer front and agribusiness front. We are losing quite a lot,” he said.
Anthony Morrison further demanded immediate action from the president to reverse the trend, stressing that “we have lost trust with him [President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo] as a result of the fact that he is not protecting the livelihood of over 57% of the rural population that is directly involved in agriculture and we are talking about 17 million people”.
He noted that the Chamber plans to launch a series of initiatives, including filing petitions with the Food and Agriculture Organization and other international bodies, to urge the president to take immediate action.
Anthony Morrison also raised concern about the possible ban on agricultural exports from Ghana if the situation persists, as European nations and other key export destinations are implementing stricter safeguards on imported products.
He stressed that decisive steps must be taken to protect and enhance investment in the agricultural sector.
“If there can be an immediate stop to the issues of galamsey because there are a lot of people whose prospective investors are on the ice as a result of galamsey going on in identified zones where they ought to be doing their investment,” Anthony Morrison stated.
