The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG), has urged all Galamsey operators across the country to stop destroying the environment and take up farming as a profitable business.
According to the PFAG, which lauded Citi FM and government’s campaign against galamsey, said galamsey threatened food security and health.
Speaking at the 2017 inauguration of the fertilizer watchdog committees in the three regions of the North at Paga in the Upper East Region, the Regional Coordinator of PFAG, Mrs. Victoria Adongo, said the move by government to stop galamsey was apt, adding that, there were several alternatives for the illegal miners including farming.
“Galamsey activities have taken over the land of the farmers and have polluted and poisoned the water bodies. We (PFAG) did a research and realized that most of the water was full of arsenic, actually some of the food stuff and vegetable produce, there ware traces of arsenic in the food.”
That is why we are emphasizing our support for government’s actions against galamsey activities in the country. But we should also recognize that; what will these galamsey operators be doing after their activities are successfully stopped by government? What are the alternatives?
“That is why we(PFAG) are inviting the galamsey people to join us do farming, now that agriculture is being transformed in Ghana, farming is the safest, most secure, and less troublesome area to engage in” Mrs. Adongo advised.
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By: Frederick Awuni/citifmonline.com/Ghana