Former Asunafo South District Chief Executive (DCE), Frank Aduse Poku, has raised alarm over the growing threat of illegal mining activities, popularly known as galamsey, to Ghana’s cocoa industry.
According to him, the unchecked spread of galamsey is undermining the country’s agricultural backbone and could soon erode Ghana’s position as a leading global cocoa producer.
“Galamsey is collapsing our cocoa and export sectors. Equador is on the way to leapfrog Ghana as the second highest producer of cocoa in the 2026/2027 season- they’re projecting to produce 650,000 tonnes of cocoa,” he said Thursday, December 18, 2025.
The former government appointee made the remarks on Angel TV during a panel discussion segment of the Angel Morning Show (AMS) hosted by Ohemaa Sakyiwa.
He pointed out that the cocoa sector remains central to Ghana’s economy and livelihoods, stressing that the consequences of neglecting it in favor of illegal mining could be dire.
“Cocoa employs over 1 million farmers and it contributed about 10% of our GDP in 2023 (contributing averagely 2%-7% to our GDP since independence). European Union Ambassador to Ghana has warned that they may ban Ghanaian export into the European market because of galamsey. Our exports to the EU market in 2024 alone gave us $3.2billion.”
Despite highlighting cocoa’s immense contribution to the nation’s economy, Mr. Poku cautioned that the lure of short-term gains from illegal mining threatens to rob future generations of sustainable resources.
“We seem to be sacrificing all these because of gold we will get from galamsey for goldbod. Let’s think about the future of this country- let’s think about the next generation ans not today,” Mr. Poku advised.
