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Ghana's cocoa risks being banned on the international market

The Western Regional Minister, Dr. Kwaku Afriyie who made this known said the situation should be checked immediately in order to forestall any ban on Ghana’s cocoa.

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Ghana’s cocoa risks international boycott, following the huge “heavy metals” unleashed into the soil in cocoa-growing areas by illegal miners.

Speaking at a press engagement at the Regional Coordinating Council in Sekondi on Friday, Dr. Afriyie, who is a renowned cocoa farmer said: “Indeed, if we do not take care, if they [galamseyers] left lose some of these heavy metals into the environment and it gets absorbed, Ghana faces the potential of its cocoa being boycotted on the international market. The mercury that the ‘gala’ people use releases heavy metals like arsenic and other things. This must be addressed.”

Illegal miners over the past few years have invaded the leading cocoa growing districts in the country - The Wassa Amenfi East, West, and Central districts.

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The most commonly used methods by illegal miners to extract gold include the use of mercury.

This is in spite of a ratified Minamata Convention which aims at reducing the use of mercury in alluvial small scale mining and rather encourages the use of other proven methods.

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