In India’s east, farmers risk jail for growing the lucrative cannabis crop. drugs

Odisha, India – Ajay Raut is an indigenous farmer in a remote village in the southern district of Odisha state, India.

The village is surrounded by forests and hills and the nearest market is 10 km (6.2 mi) away.

The 34-year-old grows sweetcorn and vegetables on 0.2 hectares (0.5 acres) for his family to eat and to sell at the market.

Raut said that this income is very low, so he has started cultivating the banned drug cannabis for better income.

He has about 1,000 cannabis plants located deep in the hills, which require at least two hours of walking each way to reach as the path is full of stones and rocks, making it difficult for him to travel on his bicycle. Or it becomes almost impossible to ride a motorcycle.

Cultivation of cannabis – also known as bhang, marijuana, weed and ganja – is legal for medicinal use only in several states including Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu. Odisha is not one of them.

India had no laws on narcotics until November 1985, when it brought in a law including a ban on the use of cannabis.

The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, makes it illegal for a person to cultivate, possess, sell, buy and consume narcotic and psychotropic substances and is punishable with a severe fine and imprisonment of up to 20 years Is.

risky but profitable

Raut, who has been involved in this business for the last eight years, spent three months in jail in 2017 and has been out on bail since then. The income from the business, which is huge for him, overcomes the fear of getting involved in it.

“We live in a hilly area where the scope of traditional farming is very limited. I barely earn 30,000 rupees ($357) a year by growing vegetables and sweetcorn, whereas from hemp farming I can easily earn 500,000 rupees ($5,962) in just five to six months,” he told Al Jazeera after assuring that Told that his real name would not be there. exposure.

Raut said he and other hemp growers generally choose remote locations in the hills for their gardens to protect themselves from police raids. “We are lucky to live amidst the hills as the police do not raid here as it is very difficult to navigate and reach the plantation area,” he said.

The planting season begins in late July. Typically, the flowers take five months to grow, which are then plucked, dried in the sun, packed and sold to traders. The 8 to 10 feet tall (2.4 to 3 m tall) plant produces 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of cannabis at a cost of about 500 to 600 rupees ($5.8 to $7) per kilogram. Farmers sell it to traders for 1,000 to 1,500 rupees ($12 to $18) per kilogram.

“But not all trees give equal production and most of them do not flower at all. Excessive rain is harmful for the crop,” said farmer Dipankar Nayak, 37.

lifestyle changes

Hemp cultivation, though banned in Odisha, is a highly profitable business for farmers and has brought them wealth overnight.

Subhankar Das, 38, who lives in the same village as Raut, told Al Jazeera that he recently changed the floors in his house from concrete to marble tiles with the proceeds from illegal trading. He has also bought three motorcycles. His children are enrolled in local language schools, but he plans to transfer them to English language schools, which are much more expensive.

Das said, “I can even buy a four-wheeler and build a luxurious house, but we have to avoid such activities because it will put us on the radar of the police who are always on the lookout to catch us and destroy our farms.” Remain alert.” “Still, some of us have bought four-wheelers.”

NK Nandi, founder of SACAL, a non-profit organization that works in weed-growing districts, said he has seen a change in the lifestyle of farmers.

“We started work in 2000 in districts where hemp is grown and the local people, mostly tribals, barely had two-wheelers and lived in mud houses. The weddings were simple and according to their tribal traditions. But everything has changed drastically in the last eight to 10 years,” Nandi said.

“Each tribal family has not only bought two to three motorcycles but also built concrete houses. They organize marriage ceremonies like those done in other parts of the country and spend lavishly and invite many guests. “The decline in insurgent activities in these areas as well as improved transport connectivity has also helped traders reach them,” he said, “helping to expand the market for this contraband product.”

Police raided

Hemp cultivation is currently active in six districts of the state of Odisha: Koraput, Malkangiri, Rayagada, Gajapati, Boudh and Kandhamal, all of which have hilly and mountainous terrain.

Senior police officials in the kingdom told Al Jazeera that they are doing their best to stop the illegal trade and have seized about 600 tonnes of cannabis, goods worth $200 million, and arrested 8,500 drug smugglers in the three years to 2023. Have also been arrested. Of that drug haul, police made their largest one-time catch last year when they seized 185,400 kilograms (408,737 pounds) of cannabis worth about $55 million.

JN Pankaj, former inspector general of the Special Task Force of Odisha Police, told Al Jazeera that police have also destroyed about 28,000 hectares (70,000 acres) of cannabis plantations in Odisha from 2021 to 2023, the highest concentration of cannabis in the country. Is. ,

In the first seven months of 2024, he said, his team seized 102,200 kilograms (225,312 pounds) of cannabis worth about $30 million.

“We use drones and even satellite images to monitor planting areas and destroy them. The challenge for us is not the hilly terrain but the use of landmine explosives in these areas, which have traditionally been hideouts for insurgent groups, which poses a serious threat to the lives of our team, Pankaj said.

And even though his team has reduced the plantation areas from 12 to eight a few years ago, the huge demand for the drug and the tremendous prices are helping the business grow, he said. For example, while traders buy hemp from farmers for about 1,000 rupees ($12) per kilogram, it is sold for 25,000 rupees ($298) per kilogram in India’s major cities.

alternative livelihood

Many farmers who were previously involved in this trade admitted to Al Jazeera that they had abandoned it due to excessive police patrolling.

“They come and destroy our gardens, cause serious damage to us, and also make arrests. We cannot spend too much money in legal expenses and do not want disruption in family life,” said Prabhat Raut, a 50-year-old farmer from southern Odisha who, after cultivating hemp for five years, started growing millet instead. Gave.

“Although it is not as profitable as weed, it is free of any headaches,” he explained.

Millet is an ancient grain in parts of southern India that federal and state governments are trying to revive.

Odisha provides free seeds for sowing, and the state purchases the crop from farmers, incentives that have helped attract farmers to the crop and made Odisha an important player in millet production.

However, for the root, no cultivar can match the benefits of hemp. “Farmers are shifting locations due to fear, but the income from millet cannot match the profit from hemp. I am taking the risk because it is worth it,” he said as he began the arduous journey to his fields under cloudy skies.

Editor’s note: The names of all farmers in the story have been changed to protect their identities.