This research invites thinking about the interaction between mining and agriculture in the context of social livelihoods in Africa. A majority of farmers interviewed prefer in the longer term ‘crops’ to ‘carats’ because farming is more sustainable compared to ASM. Also, farming is the economic activity they have long lived with. Although ASM provides an additional source of income for some farmers, it is more of a complementary activity rather than a complete substitute for farming. The costs far outweigh the benefits ASM provides to these communities. ASM affects land and farms too often with little or no compensation. The majority (90 per cent) of farmers sampled in the district indicated that compensation is not adequate to mitigate the cost of the permanent loss of lands and destruction of cocoa farms.