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A soil scientist, Dr Thomas Aquinas Adjadeh, is advocating the enactment of a law that will protect arable lands from being destroyed.

According to him, such a law should include measures that would prevent farmlands from being used for mining and construction activities in order to promote food security in the country.

“Lands are being used for all sorts of activities without any proper plan or regulations to protect arable lands’’, he indicated.

Dr Adjadeh, who is also the Head of the Department of Soil Science of the University of Ghana(UG), Legon, was speaking to the Daily Graphic in an interview at an inter Senior High School (SHS) quiz competition on soil science at the UG last Saturday.

Competition

The event, organised by the Soil Science Society of Ghana, in collaboration with the Department of Soil Science, UG, and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), formed part of celebrations to mark the international year of the soil declared by the United Nations in 2015.

Ten SHS, drawn from the Greater Accra, Eastern and Volta regions, took part in the competition.

Similar competitions were also organised at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), University of Cape Coast and the University for Development Studies (UDS) for selected SHS in those regions.

Framework

Dr Adjadeh explained that such a law must establish a framework that would clearly earmark where buildings, schools, farms and other infrastructure should be located.

“Also, the framework must stipulate how lands that had been used for mining activities will be reclaimed for farming and other purposes so that lands will not be exploited to a point of degradation,” he added.

 The scientist observed that even though “we need the resources, they must, however, be exploited in an efficient manner so that development and nature can coexist side by side for the benefit of mankind.’’