Sustainable Solution or a Marriage of Convenience? The Impact of Illegal Gold Mining on Smallholder Farmers in the Bosome Freho District, Ghana

Abstract

Illegal artisanal gold mining, locally termed galamsey, has emerged as an essential threat to rural agricultural livelihoods in Ghana, yet localized, qualitative studies into its compound socio-ecological consequences remain limited. This study examines the impacts of illegal gold mining on the agricultural livelihoods of farming communities in the Bosome Freho District of Ghana's Ashanti Region. The district is predominantly rural, with 71.3% of the working-age population relying on farming for their livelihoods. Situated within a critical constructivist paradigm, the study adopts an interpretive phenomenological design. It integrates eight semi-structured interviews with district officials and community leaders, one focus group discussion with twelve smallholder farmers, and a systematic desk review of relevant literature and policy documents. The Community Capitals Framework (CCF) and the FAO's four-dimensional model of food security, availability, accessibility, utilization, and stability, provided the analytical architecture for interpreting findings. Results show that galamsey has depleted all seven capital domains identified by the CCF across the district. Natural capital is severely affected through water contamination and land degradation, impacting 60–70% of communities, alongside damage to built infrastructure such as irrigation systems and roads. Human capital is undermined by mercury-related health issues, while social capital declines due to the breakdown of communal labor systems. Financial capital has weakened as farm incomes collapse, forcing reliance on purchased food, and cultural capital is disrupted through loss of intergenerational knowledge transfer. Political capital is eroded by governance failures, including corruption, centralized licensing systems, and weak regulatory enforcement. Women farmers were found to bear disproportionate burdens across all capital dimensions. The study concludes that galamsey constitutes a structural, compounding food security crisis rather than an isolated environmental problem. The findings underscore the urgency of decentralized governance reform, gender-responsive agricultural support, irrigation infrastructure investment, and community-centered land reclamation as integrated policy responses.