Farmers in eastern India risk jail for growing lucrative cannabis crop | Drugs

Odisha, India – Ajay Rout is a local farmer in a remote village in the southern region of Odisha, India.

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

The 34-year-old grows maize and vegetables on 0.2 hectares (0.5 acres) for both his family’s food and to sell at the market.

Rout said this income was low, so he started growing marijuana, a banned drug, to make a better income.

He has about 1,000 cannabis plants deep in the hills, which require at least a two-hour drive to reach because the road is full of stones and rocks, making it almost impossible for him to ride a bicycle or motorbike.

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

Until November 1985, there were no laws related to narcotics in India.

The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act of 1985 makes it illegal for a person to cultivate, possess, sell, buy and consume narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, which can result in severe fines and up to 20 years in prison.

Risky but profitable

Rout, who has been running the business for the past eight years, was jailed for three months in 2017 and has since been released on bail. The income from the business, which is great for him, overcomes the fear of doing it.

“We live in a mountainous area where traditional agriculture has a very limited scope. “I hardly earn 30,000 rupees ($357) a year by growing vegetables and maize, while I can easily earn 500,000 rupees ($5,962) in just 5-6 months by growing cannabis,” he said.

Rout said he and other cannabis growers generally choose remote locations in the hills for their plantations to protect themselves from police raids. “We are lucky to live in the hills because the police do not raid here because it is very difficult to walk and reach the plantation area,” he said.

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

“But not all trees produce the same fruit, and many have no flowers at all. Excessive rains are harmful to crops,” said 37-year-old farmer Dipankar Nayak.

A change in lifestyle

Cannabis cultivation, though banned in Odisha, is a very lucrative business for farmers and has made them rich overnight.

38-year-old Subhankar Das, who lives in the same village as Rout, told Al Jazeera TV that he recently changed the floor of his house from concrete to marble tiles with the proceeds from illegal trade. He also bought three motorcycles. Her children are enrolled in local language schools, but she plans to transfer them to English-language schools, which are more expensive.

“I can even buy four-wheelers and build a palatial house, but we should refrain from such activities as we will be on the radar of the police who are always on the lookout to catch us and destroy our fields,” Das said. “Still, some of us bought four-wheelers.”

NK Nandi, founder of SACAL, a non-profit organization working in weed-growing districts, said he has witnessed a change in farmers’ lifestyles.

“We started in 2000 in cannabis-growing areas, and the locals, who were mostly tribals, barely had two-wheelers and lived in mud houses. Marriages were simple and according to tribal traditions. But things have undergone a sea change in the last 8-10 years,” Nandi said.

“Each tribal family not only bought two or three motorcycles, but also built concrete houses. As in other parts of the country, they also perform wedding ceremonies, spend a lot, and invite several guests. Better transport connectivity along with reduced insurgent activity in these areas has helped traders reach them,” he said.

Police raids

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

Senior state police officials told Al Jazeera they are doing everything they can to stop the illegal trade and have seized nearly 600 tonnes of cannabis, worth $200 million, and also arrested 8,500 drug traffickers in the three years to 2023. arrested. Police made the largest single seizure of this drug haul last year, seizing 185,400 kg (408,737 lb) of cannabis, worth an estimated $55 million.

JN Pankaj, a former inspector general of Odisha Police’s Special Task Force, told Al Jazeera that police destroyed about 28,000 hectares (70,000 acres) of cannabis plantations in Odisha between 2021 and 2023, the highest for cannabis in the country. .

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

“We use drones and even satellite images to track and destroy farmland. The problem for us is not the hilly areas, but the use of IEDs in these areas, which are traditionally havens for insurgent groups,” Pankaj said, adding, “This poses a serious risk to the lives of our team.”

According to him, although his team reduced the number of cultivated areas from 12 to eight a few years ago, the huge demand and astronomical prices brought by this drug are helping to develop the trade. For example, cannabis is sold for 25,000 rupees ($298) per kilogram in major Indian cities, while traders buy cannabis from farmers for around 1,000 rupees ($12) per kilogram.

Alternative livelihood

Several farmers who used to engage in the trade agreed with Al Jazeera that they quit because of excessive police patrols.

“They came and destroyed our plantation, inflicting heavy losses on us and making arrests. We can’t afford to spend a lot of money on legal expenses and we don’t want to disrupt family life,” said Prabhat Rout, 50, from southern Odisha, who after cultivating cannabis for five years switched to millet instead.

“While not as profitable as weed, it’s headache free,” he said.

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

Odisha offers free seeds for sowing and the state buys the produce from farmers, incentives that help attract farmers to the crop and make Odisha a significant player in millet production.

And for Rout, no cultivation can match the profits of cannabis. “Farmers are moving out of fear, but the income from millet is not comparable to the income from cannabis. I take the risk because it’s worth it,” he said as he began the arduous journey to his fields under a cloud-filled sky.

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