Nutrition
Galamsey: Stealing nutrition from Ghana’s children
- /home/u249204778/domains/spectator.com.gh/public_html/wp-content/plugins/mvp-social-buttons/mvp-social-buttons.php on line 27
https://spectator.com.gh/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/a.png&description=Galamsey: Stealing nutrition from Ghana’s children', 'pinterestShare', 'width=750,height=350'); return false;" title="Pin This Post">
- Share
- Tweet /home/u249204778/domains/spectator.com.gh/public_html/wp-content/plugins/mvp-social-buttons/mvp-social-buttons.php on line 72
https://spectator.com.gh/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/a.png&description=Galamsey: Stealing nutrition from Ghana’s children', 'pinterestShare', 'width=750,height=350'); return false;" title="Pin This Post">
On the banks of the River Pra, Ama, a mother of three, points to the murky water flowing past her village. “We used to drink from this river. We used to fish here,” she says. “Now, even our crops die when we use it to water them.” Ama’s children rarely eat fish anymore, and vegetables from her once-fertile farm are scarce. Their daily meals now consist mostly of cassava and a little palm oil which is filling, but far from nutritious.
Ama’s story is not unique. Across Ghana’s mining communities, illegal small-scale mining, or galamsey, is robbing families of the very resources they need to eat well and stay healthy. The focus of public debate has often been on the destroyed forests, poisoned rivers, and billions lost in gold revenue. But beneath the surface lies a quieter tragedy: a nutrition crisis with lasting consequences for Ghana’s children.
With rivers poisoned by mercury and cyanide, farming and fishing have collapsed in many galamsey zones. Families that once relied on fish as a key source of protein now go without. Crops watered with polluted streams fail to thrive, while fertile cocoa and vegetable farms have been dug up and abandoned. With food production disrupted, prices climb, and poor households are forced to rely on cheap, starchy meals with little nutritional value.
The impact is already showing. Health workers in mining areas report higher cases of child stunting, anaemia among women, and underweight children compared to farming districts. Pregnant women face greater risks during childbirth, while children raised on nutrient-poor diets struggle with growth, learning, and long-term productivity.
The problem stretches far beyond the mining pits. When rivers like the Pra, Ankobra, and Offin are polluted, irrigation systems and fisheries downstream are also destroyed, threatening food supplies in entire regions. In the long run, galamsey doesn’t just damage land, it undermines Ghana’s fight against hunger, malnutrition, and poverty.
If Ghana is serious about protecting its people, tackling galamsey cannot be seen only as an environmental or economic battle. It must also be seen as a public health and nutrition emergency. Safeguarding rivers and farmland means safeguarding the right of every child to eat a balanced diet and grow to their full potential.
Ama’s children, and thousands like them, deserve more than poisoned water and barren fields. They deserve safe food, clean water, and a future free from malnutrition. Ending galamsey is not just about saving the land; it is about saving Ghana’s nutritional future and the next generation.
We call on government to deploy multi-sector response teams that include health and agriculture officials, establish mobile nutrition clinics in affected areas, and mandate nutrition impact assessments for all mining permits. We urge traditional authorities and assemblies to enforce local bylaws and support community-led river monitoring systems.
We challenge citizens to demand quarterly transparency reports on galamsey enforcement and nutrition indicators from their MPs and district assemblies and we encourage the media to continue investigating the financial networks behind illegal mining. Ghana has the laws and resources, what’s missing is the political courage to enforce them. Ama’s village, and countless others like it, cannot wait any longer.
Feature Article by Women, Media and Change under its Nourish Ghana: Advocating for Increased Leadership to Combat Malnutrition Project
Join our WhatsApp Channel now!
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBElzjInlqHhl1aTU27
Ingredients
-Cocoyam leaves (Nkontomire)
-Palm oil
-Ripped Plantain
-2 Large smoked salmon
-1 cowhide (wele)
-1 cup of Egusi
– Momoni
-3 fresh eggs
-2 large onions
-2 large tomatoes
-Pepper
-Ginger
-Garlic
Method
-Wash cocoyam leaves thoroughly under running water
-Cut cocoyam leaves into stripes and wash for the second time
-Blend tomatoes, onion, pepper, ginger, and garlic together
-Put sauce pan on fire and heat palm oil
-Add blended ingredients and allow to cook for about 5 minutes
– Wash salmon, wele and cut into cubes and add to stew
-Add salt
-Add eggs to egusi in a bowl to form paste and add it to stew
-Add to stew and allow to simmer for seven minutes
-Add cocoyam leaves to stew and allow it to cook for sometime
-Wash, peel plantain and cut into shapes
-Cook for some time (Pour water out and serve with stew)
By Linda Abrefi Wadie
Every year, Ghana produces thousands of tonnes of nutritious food but a significant share of it never reaches a plate. Fruit spoils before it’s sold. Vegetables rot in transit. Grains are ruined by poor storage. Conversations about nutrition often focus on growing more food but reducing what’s lost or wasted after harvest may be one of the fastest ways to improve food security and nutrition, without farming a single extra acre.
The cost of losing nutritious food
Fresh fruit and vegetables spoil the fastest, and without adequate storage, cooling, or transport, farmers are often forced to sell at rock-bottom prices or watch their harvest go to waste. That squeezes farmers’ incomes and shrinks the supply of nutritious food reaching local markets. As supply falls, prices rise, pushing healthy food further out of reach for the low-income households that need it most.
Nutrition begins beyond the farm gate
Cutting post-harvest losses means more nutritious food reaches families without needing more farmland or higher yields. When tomatoes, mangoes, and leafy greens are preserved through better storage, drying, or processing, they stay available and affordable for longer. Better handling also protects nutritional quality itself, so the vitamins and minerals in food aren’t lost before it ever reaches a consumer.
Supporting farmers supports nutrition
Many farmers still lack access to storage facilities, cold chains, processing equipment, and reliable transport. Strengthening these systems is a win on both ends: farmers earn more from what they grow, and households gain more affordable access to nutritious food. Local processing, such as turning surplus fruit into juices, dried fruit, or purees, can extend shelf life and cut waste even further.
What needs to change?
Reducing food loss takes coordinated action:
• Government: invest in rural roads, storage infrastructure, irrigation, and agricultural extension services.
• Private sector: expand cold storage, food processing, and distribution networks.
• Research institutions: keep developing better post-harvest preservation technology.
• Consumers: plan meals, store food properly, and make safe use of leftovers.
Looking ahead
As Ghana works to tackle malnutrition in all its forms, cutting food loss deserves a place at the top of the agenda. Growing more food matters, but making sure the food already grown actually reaches families, safely and affordably, matters just as much.
Every basket of tomatoes saved, every crate of mangoes preserved, and every bag of grain protected from spoilage adds up to better nutrition, stronger livelihoods, and a more resilient food system for the future.
Feature article by Women, Media and Change under its Nourish Ghana: Advocating for Increased Leadership to Combat Malnutrition project
