The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) is expressing worry over activities of illegal miners.
The Intelligence Department of the Ghana Cocoa Board over the weekend arrested two Chinese illegal miners for mining COCOBOD’s seed garden in Wassa Saman in the Western region.
The two Chinese, 28 year old Li Wen Qieng and 35 year old Mo Sin Shan were arrested for excavating the land in the night for gold, destroying the cocoa seedlings.
Public Relations Officer at COCOBOD Noah Amenyah says the situation is worrying.
“We in COCOBOD are very much worried,” he emphasized.
He said “our cocoa production is coming down and this attitude by illegal miners cannot help sustain the production of cocoa in Ghana. We should see this as a threat to the very survival of human beings and human survival”.
Recounting how the Chinese had access to the land, Noah Amenyah stated that the two Chinese illegal miners were aided by a Ghanaian, named only as Wonder.
He laments, if the situation persists, the target for the 2016/17 crop season would be under threat.
“What they have done, it will be difficult for us to raise the seedlings again. With what they have done, achieving the cocoa production target for 2016/2017 will be difficult. Every seedling counts,” he noted.
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