Lands and Natural resources minister Samuel Abdulai Jinapor wants Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives MMDCEs as well as the Regional ministers to help fight illegal mining in the country.
Mr Jinapor said the continues practice of Galamsey in many parts of the country is worrying.
Globally, climate-smart agriculture is highly recognized as an approach for sustainable agriculture and food systems.
In Africa and other developing countries, climate-smart agriculture is observed to reposition and modify agricultural systems for improved food and nutritional security. Despite the relevance of the approach to sustainable agricultural planning, illegal gold mining in many parts of the society is placing constraints to its implementation and adoption through its contest with agricultural land for space and activities.
Illegal gold mining is on the rise due to the lucrativeness of the non-regulated gold rush opportunities with hard consequences on sustainable agriculture and resilience food systems. As a result, this study seeks to investigate illegal gold mining and its environmental implication for climate-smart agriculture in Ghana. The study used a single case study using a mixed-methods approach to research.
The study adopted purposive and systematic sampling techniques to select the study communities and respondents, respectively. Questionnaire and interviews were used to gather the primary data from respondents at the household level, as the unit of analysis. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis reveal that known agricultural practices such as terracing, crop rotation, use of domestic waste/manure, and irrigation of crops were affected adversely by activities of illegal mining.
The study recommends the need for conscious efforts from the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to sustain the ban on illegal mining with intensified monitoring and supervision while a systematic scheme involving relevant stakeholders is developed and implemented to ban illegal mining in Ghana completely. The Ministry of Food and Agriculture needs
Addressing a forum in the Ashanti Region after touring some Galamsey site Samuel Abdulai Jinapor said government can not win the fight if all stakeholders are not involved.
Story by; Teacher Kojo / Ahotoronline.com
