As many as 22,217 acres of illegal hemp cultivation areas were wiped out by enforcement agencies in Odisha during the 2020-21 financial year with the State government intensifying its drive to destroy cultivation of cannabis’, locally called ganja, a drug banned under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance (NDPS) Act, said Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra.

Taking a review of illegal ganja cultivation in the State, Chief Secretary Mahapatra directed to intensify enforcement activities through joint action among police, excise and revenue department personnel.

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Cannabis, a banned substance, is churned out from hemp plants. Odisha is one of the leading cannabis-producing States in India while eight districts- Kandhamal, Boudh, Deogarh, Sambalpur, Rayagada, Gajapati, Malkangiriand Nayagarh- are widely regarded as the epicenter of hemp cultivation.

“The destruction of the hemp plantation is still continuing in the areas and villages through a collection of local intelligence. The government has already decided to apply satellite imagery and drone technology to locate the areas of illegal cultivation and destroy those before harvesting”, Mahapatra said.

The emphasis is being laid on the continuous destruction of the crop before harvesting. It is better to nip the buds before the plants grow full-grown. And this sort of initiative would itself be a strong deterrent, he said.

The district-level authorities have been directed to identify the land record of the private landholdings being taken up for hemp cultivation. Directions have been issued to proceed against them stringently as per provisions of NDPS Act, he maintained.

The Collectors have also been directed to prepare district-level action plans for prevention of the illegal means of earning through targeted alternative livelihood interventions.

They have been asked to identify the tribal poor families who are living on this trade and provide them alternative livelihood opportunities through convergence of Odisha Livelihood Mission, National Livelihood Mission, MGNREGS, high return cash crop, agri-business, agro-product aggregation, small food processing units, goatery, poultry, integrated farming and similar other schemes, he said while taking a review meeting today.

“There is the need to intensify awareness through information, education and communication (IEC) activities in the identified villages with involvement of village community, PRI representatives, NGOs, SHGs, farmers’ clubs and educated youth”, Development Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Jena opined while taking part in the review meeting.

The field-level officers of different departments have been asked to visit the villages frequently and follow up livelihood activities with the farmers and wage earners.

Hemp cultivation has emerged as a money-minting source of income. The poor people living in forest-side villages are often ensnared by middlemen and agents of drug smuggling rackets. They are encouraged and funded to cultivate hemp by the racket members. With return from the hemp being more than 100-fold than that of the paddy cultivation, the poorer sections fall into the trap. The yield from an acre of paddy cultivation will at best give an annual return of Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000, the return from hemp will be as high as Rs 10 lakh.