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ZWEDRU \u2013 Thirty-one Burkinab\u00e9 cocoa farmers were jailed for allegedly clearing forestry concessions in Grand Gedeh County to plant cocoa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men, with ages ranging from teenagers to the 50s, were rounded up by rangers of the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) during a routine patrol. They were recently arrested at two forestry contract areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Burkinab\u00e9s are damaging these places with cocoa farming. We met them brushing in the park. We also caught some of them cutting demarcation in the FMCs,\u201d Yei Neagor, FDA\u2019s head for that region, told The DayLight at the Zwedru City Magisterial Court. Pictures shared by the FDA show the man setting up camps and setting trees ablaze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI can tell you that the situation is alarming. They are destroying the forest. It is on a massive scale,\u201d added Neagor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The suspects were arrested in the Gbarzon District at two locations. Fifteen were picked up at Marbo 1 Community Forest and 16 at a dormant concession known as Forest Management Contract Area K or FMC \u2018K\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They had been arraigned at the FDA\u2019s regional office in Zwedru and later taken to the police station before being forwarded to court. They have been charged with criminal trespassing and criminal mischief, court documents show. They were jailed at the Zwedru Correction Palace after failing to post bail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018The land belongs to us\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In an interview with The DayLight, the suspects admitted to the charges but blamed their Liberian hosts for the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe fell into this problem because our host did not show us the actual demarcation of the boundary,\u201d said Sor\u00e9 Sayouba, a spokesman for the Burkinab\u00e9s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sayouba, 57, said he and the other men crossed the Ivorian border into Grand Gedeh through local people or hosts. Immigration records list Bamba Paye, a Gbarzon resident, as one of their hosts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paye denies any wrongdoing, saying his family farmed on the controversial land for decades. \u201cI don\u2019t understand why they arrested my Burkinab\u00e9 workers because my parents planted cocoa and orange way back on this land. In our traditional setting, life crops represent inheritance,\u201d Paye said via phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe land belongs to us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The suspects have been freed on bond and are expected to reappear in court on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cocoa court cases<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The case adds to several lawsuits involving Burkinab\u00e9s, the FDA and individuals in Grand Gedeh, regarding cocoa cultivation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Burkinab\u00e9s began flocking into Liberia in the 2010s, after a cross-border agreement<\/a> between then-President Sirleaf and Ivoirian leader Alhassan Ouattara, according to immigration authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFrom that time, we noticed that people started coming in. But they were not coming as agriculturists. Now, as we speak, they are all along the Cavalla belt,\u201d said Alex Kpakolo, Grand Gedeh\u2019s Assistant Comptroller of Immigration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last year, France 24 reported<\/a> 25,000, capitalizing on Liberia\u2019s weak law enforcement, large rainforests and high cocoa prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ivory Coast, the world\u2019s largest cocoa producer, has lost 90 percent of its forest to \u201cbrown gold\u201d farming in the last six decades, the report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This trend continues in Liberia, which lost<\/a> 386,000 hectares of primary forests between 2002 and 2024, according to Global Forest Watch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_20250711_170442_413-1024x555.jpg\")