Pact and partners awarded new project to mitigate conflict and build community cohesion between Ghana’s cocoa farmers and gold miners

In July, Pact started a 12-month peacebuilding project to increase community cohesion between cocoa farmers and gold miners in Ghana and enhance the resilience and sustainability of both sectors.​ The project is funded by the Chocolonely Foundation, which supports projects and organizations that contribute to prosperous cocoa growing communities in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, facilitate systemic change, and challenge the status quo.

The project, known as Shared Ground, will engage stakeholders in social dialogue workshops where gold mining and cocoa farming communities come together to share their perspectives, develop mutual understanding, and identify action points for conflict resolution. Solidaridad and the Ghana Cooperative Cocoa Farmers and Marketing Association Limited (GCCFA) – an umbrella association of Ghanian cocoa unions – are key partners.

Ghana, the world’s second largest cocoa producer favored by global chocolate makers for its full-bodied flavor and high-quality cocoa beans, has seen a rapid decline of nearly 50% in its production from 1.04 million to 550,000 tons since 2021, with export earnings falling 40% from $270 million to $160 million in 2024 (Figure 1).

This cliff fall is attributed, in part, to the impacts of informal artisanal and small-scale gold mining. Also known locally as “galamsey” – a blend of the words ‘to gather and sell’ – the sector has boomed off the back of rising global gold prices from a $1,800 per ounce average in 2021 to $2,300 in 2024. It is forecast to average $2,700 by end of 2025. 

The impacts of the two industries include the sale or destruction of cocoa farmland by informal mining activities, overlapping land rights, and the legal primacy of mining title underground over farmland above ground, pollution of water bodies, and destruction of land which renders farms unproductive.

“In rural communities across central and western Ghana, artisanal and small-scale gold mining and cocoa farming directly employs 1.1 million miners and 800,000 farmers and provides a livelihood for as many as 10 million more people indirectly. Gold and cocoa have been among Ghana’s top export earners for decades,” said Dr. James McQuilken, Pact’s Director of Responsible Mining. “It is therefore vital that community-led pathways for these two sectors to coexist harmoniously and productively can be identified and actioned. We need to move them from a declining spiral of land degradation, environmental pollution, and competition for resources – resulting in localized community tension and conflict – to a virtuous cycle of mutually beneficial livelihoods.”

Leveraging the partners’ strong local networks and expertise, the Shared Ground project will facilitate dialogue between miners and farmers to build trust, understanding, and co-develop practical solutions, resulting in community-led conflict mitigation action plans. 

“Our experience has shown that open, inclusive dialogue is the foundation for peaceful co-existence. By bringing both cocoa farmers and small-scale miners to the table to listen, understand, and work together, we can turn potential conflicts into opportunities for cooperation, to create communities where respect for each other’s livelihoods drives lasting peace and shared prosperity," Rosemary Addico, Programme Manager Responsible Gold at Solidaridad, indicated.

A media-focused advocacy campaign to complement the level setting will also be deployed  through local radio and mobile phone messaging apps by the cocoa farmers’ association to promote farmers and miners’ needs and constructive conflict resolution. 

Building on Pact and Solidaridad’ s rich experience promoting responsible gold mining together in Ghana, two joint training workshops will further enhance miners’ and farmers’ adoption of environmentally responsible mining and climate-resilient cocoa farming practices. 

“What we are hearing from both Ghana’s cocoa farmers and gold miners is that peacebuilding efforts must be complemented with technical assistance addressing their practical challenges. This is why we have opted for an integrated approach, combining conflict analysis and trust-building measures with activities to clarify land ownership, support sustainable mine site and land use planning, protecting water bodies, and so on,” said Jorden de Haan, Pact’s Senior Technical Manager for Responsible Mining and the project’s director.

Finally, a scale-up workshop with farmers and miners’ associations will empower both groups to take the dialogue, outreach, and action forward for wider adoption and lay the foundation for future projects to promote shared ground and resilient mining and cocoa farming livelihoods for Ghana’s economic growth and development.

“The Shared Ground project has given cocoa farmers opportunity to mitigate conflicts with miners in our communities and lands. This is the first project of its kind in Ghana where cocoa farmers are put in the central stage to directly advocate for conflict resolution,” said Issifu Issaka, President of the GCCFA and a cocoa farmer from the Western-North region of Ghana.