No Cause For Alarm Over "Tiny" Destruction Of Cocoa Trees

Agriculture Minister Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto has asked the media to stop exaggerating the impact of the felling of cocoa trees for rubber plantations in some communities.

He said the destruction of the cocoa farms by the Ghana Rubber Estate Limited (GREL) in the Eastern and Western regions, represents a “tiny” fraction of such farms in the country.

More than 5000 out of the estimated 1.7million acres of cocoa farms in Ghana have been destroyed to prepare the land for rubber plantations.

Related Article: Farmers demand end to destruction of cocoa trees by Ghana Rubber Estate Ltd

GREL has explained it bought those lands legally from traditional leaders who own them, offering a compensation to the affected farmers.

The farmers numbering more than 100 have rejected the offer and have petitioned the president, Inspector General of Police and Interior Minister to intervene in the matter.

But Dr Afriyie Akoto has seen nothing wrong with the activities of GREL, saying the destruction of the trees is not on a “mass scale.”

“We need to talk about this in perspective…if they succeed [their activities] will have far more impact than the report,” he said of revenue likely to be derived from the rubber plantation.

But a forestry expert with the University of Ghana has warned of environmental consequences if the government does not stop GREL.

Dr Yaw Agyeman Boafo said cutting down the cocoa trees that have been there for many years will contribute to the greenhouse effect.

“Taking their land for rubber production is a big issue [because] planting rubber is going to take some time and environmentally it is not going to be good for Ghana,” he said, charging the government to deal with the issue.