President John Dramani Mahama has admitted that some farmers have abandoned their cocoa farming for illegal mining popularly known as “galamey” due to low prices paid to them.
He said Ghana has in some past years experienced a crisis in the cocoa industry leading to the recent reduction of cocoa prices.
The President believes that the economic pressures in the cocoa sector can be linked to the illegal mining activities in the country.
“The low cocoa price the farmers received forced some of them to abandon cocoa farming for gold mining.” President Mahama said this on Tuesday, March 17, 2026 at Jubilee House when he met Organised Labour.
According to him, the government is putting measures in place to restore the hope of cocoa farmers to continue farming.
“Among other things, the government is introducing a pricing mechanism to ensure farmers receive up to 70% of the global cocoa price.” Mr. Mahama stated.
Commenting on the fight against galamsey, President Mahama said some politicians, traditional leaders and other prominent people are involved in illegal mining activities affecting the fight.
He said the influence of these people paved the way for people to mine in the forest reserves.
“We are not winning the fight against illegal mining because of some politicians, traditional leaders and other prominent people involved in the activities.” He added.
The President further assured that despite the challenges, the government is working hard to achieve the fight against galamsey.
“We are not going to sleep because of the challenges. We are working hard to get the necessary resources and monitoring equipment to empower anti-galamsey operations.” He said.
Source: Elvisanokye.com