The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) is lamenting over activities of illegal mining (galamsey) operators in some cocoa growing areas of the country, which it describes as making farming expensive.

According to the Chief Executive of COCOBOD, Joseph Boahen Aidoo, the menace is adversely affecting water resources, used for irrigation, thereby destroying the environment.

He was speaking to joy Business after inaugurating a committee to promote the consumption of cocoa in the country.

The nine member committee chaired by the Deputy Director of Public Affairs of COCOBOD, Fiifi Boafo, is to ensure adequate promotion of cocoa products and domestic consumption in all sectors of the economy.

“The issue of Galamsey has become a serious concern for not only cocobod but the whole country and when you look at the impact on our farmers and irrigation, it is very serious”.

“Now we struggle to get surface water for irrigation processes and I can tell you that very soon the rivers we rely on for our irrigation will be filled with silt and we can’t even get water to do irrigation”, he mentioned.

He added that the activities of the illegal miners has made farming very expensive in the last couple of years, especially “for our cocoa farmers because of these water crises and all that”.

Menawhile, the country’s consumption of cocoa and chocolate products have increased significantly from an average of 0.5 to one kilogramme annually, according to the Ghana Cocoa Board.

This, it describes as a huge milestone, considering the low level of consumption in the country previously.