A Professor from the Department of Nuclear Agriculture and Radiation Processing at the School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences, Daniel Asare has advised farmers in regions plagued by illegal mining to refrain from cultivating food crops.

This, he says, is due to potential heavy metal contamination from the mining activity.

He emphasized that growing crops like okra and cassava in such areas could pose health risks to consumers as these plants absorb heavy metals from the soil.

"We should concentrate on the use of organic matter to mop the metals by applying compost, green manure and the likes. The challenge is that food crops grown on such lands after this process won’t be edible because they will still contain some amounts of the heavy metals."

“We should focus on economic trees to mop up the metals.”

During a Public Lecture on Nuclear Science and Technology in Ghana’s Agriculture and Food Systems, Prof. Asare proposed the cultivation of timber species on these lands to absorb the heavy metals.

He outlined a rejuvenation period of about 20 years before reverting to food crop cultivation, acknowledging the laborious nature of this process.

This advice aligns with the government's efforts through the National Alternative Employment and Livelihood Programme (NAELP) to reclaim and restore lands affected by illegal mining.

The NAELP aims to ease the hardships faced by those affected by illegal mining while contributing to the purification of the mining sector. This initiative introduces a community mining scheme designed for small-scale mining operations in the country.