Kadavu Island
More actions
| Kadavu Island | |
|---|---|
| ActiveRecorded as grown here since 2000 | |
| Geography | |
| Country | Fiji |
| Province/State | Eastern Division |
| Province | Kadavu |
| Coordinates | -19.05, 178.20 |
| Landscape | |
| Terrain | Remote upland interior of a volcanic island, with plots on farmland close to villages |
| Growing history | |
| Dated news reports | 2020–2026 |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 0 |
| Accessions | 0 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Kadavu Island is a landrace cannabis growing area in Kadavu province, in the Eastern Division of Fiji. The island lies south of Suva and is the main island of the province.
Police have seized cannabis on Kadavu since at least 2018. They uprooted 82,700 plants from the province between January 2020 and March 2021, and 90,027 between January and October 2021, two counts that overlap.[1][2][3] In September 2025 the Commissioner of Police named the island a major base of cannabis production in Fiji.[4] No plant from the island has been collected or described.
Geography
Reported farms lie close to villages and in the island's interior. In 2022 the Commissioner of Police said cannabis was being planted ten minutes from villages, and police went to inspect the upper regions of the island where it was known to be grown.[5] Raids named in reporting took place at Levuka, Yale, Naioti and Nacomoto in 2020, at Kadavu village and Vacalea in January 2021, in the Lawaki terrain in 2022 and in the tikina (districts) of Yale and Ono in 2025.[6][7][8][9][10]
The police station at Vunisea is the base for operations on the island, and seized plants are burned in its incinerator.[3][11] The provincial council meets at Tavuki, where police commanders have addressed it on cannabis in 2021 and 2022.[1][5] In 2026 the divisional police commander said the problem was confined to a small number of communities and to certain parts of the island.[12]
Cultivation
Cannabis is grown on village land among the island's food crops. The Commissioner of Police said in 2022 that it was planted with cassava, dalo and yaqona, and that landowners did not always know who was farming their land.[5] In 2025 Commissioner Rusiate Tudravu said cannabis had displaced yaqona and dalo as a cash crop in Fiji because it is harvested sooner and pays more.[4]
Reported finds ranged from a few hundred plants to tens of thousands. Raids in January 2021 found more than 300 plants on one farm at Kadavu village and more than 190 on one at Vacalea.[7][8] In 2022 one farm in the Lawaki terrain held more than 4,000 plants, and in March 2025 police found 31,000 plants in Ono tikina in a single week and close to 4,000 on one farm in Yale.[9][10]
Plants on the Kadavu village farm stood from 57 centimetres to more than three metres; those at Vacalea stood up to 2.9 metres.[7][8] No report describes the seed or the variety grown.
Enforcement
Police operations on Kadavu are run with teams sent from elsewhere in Fiji on rotation. In November 2020 officers who were also district football representatives were deployed and uprooted close to 5,000 plants in a week.[6] In March 2021 Tudravu, then Acting Commissioner, told the provincial council that 12 teams had been sent to the province in the previous 15 months.[1] In October 2021 the chief of operations said farms were being raided every week or fortnight and that 36 people had been arrested that year.[2]
Police valuations of the Kadavu seizures vary widely. The 82,700 plants of January 2020 to March 2021 were valued at close to FJ$100 million and the 90,027 plants of January to October 2021 at FJ$1,500,386,000.[1][2] A 2026 report put the street value of the 2021 seizures at more than FJ$539 million.[12]
Several raids followed information from villagers. After the Vacalea raid in January 2021 three youths of the village were warned for threatening families who had assisted the officers, and the village headman asked for a drug-awareness session.[8] In July 2022 the Commissioner of Police, Sitiveni Qiliho, warned at the provincial council that landowners could be held responsible under the 2004 drugs law for cannabis grown on their land without their knowledge. He said police had used drones and enlisted the churches, and that a team had uprooted about 40,000 plants on the island in the previous week.[5]
Seized plants are destroyed under court orders. In August 2022 more than 81,000 plants, over five tonnes kept as evidence from cases between 2018 and 2021, were burned at Vunisea after 76 disposal applications were granted by the Suva Magistrates Court.[3] In January 2023 about a tonne of plants from seven farms on the island was destroyed there.[11] The Ono and Yale finds of March 2025 were made under Operation Sasamaki, a police operation against drug networks.[10]
In July 2026 the chiefs of Kadavu asked the government to strengthen police operations, saying raids had become less frequent.[13] The same week the divisional police commander, Superintendent Luke Cerenasiga, said 12 years of operations on the island had not had a significant impact. Police would reduce their direct presence and leave chiefs, village leaders and district representatives to identify and report offenders, working with the police and the Ministry of iTaukei Affairs.[12]
Accessions
No accessions documented yet.
Conservation status
No plant from Kadavu has been described or tested. Seized plants are kept as evidence and then burned.
Recent news
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Rabonu, Inoke (28 March 2021). "More Than 82K In Marijuana Plants Uprooted". Fiji Sun. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Kumar, Ashna (27 October 2021). "$1.5 Billion Marijuana Uprooted From Kadavu, Police Says". Fiji Sun. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "More Than 5 Tonnes Of Marijuana Destroyed". Fiji Sun. 9 August 2022. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Vavataga, Bose (4 September 2025). "Police warn marijuana now Fiji's top cash crop". FBC News. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "Top Cop Issues Stern Warning For Landowners Cultivating Marijuana". Fiji Sun. 5 July 2022. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Close To 5000 Marijuana Plants Uprooted In Kadavu". Fiji Sun. 15 November 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Over 300 Marijuana Plants Uprooted In Kadavu". Fiji Sun. 9 January 2021. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 "Over 190 Marijuana Plants Uprooted In Kadavu Following Information". Fiji Sun. 12 January 2021. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "More than 27,000 Marijuana Plants Discovered In Cakaudrove". Fiji Sun. 22 August 2022. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Chand, Anish (23 March 2025). "31,000 marijuana plants found on Kadavu". The Fiji Times. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Two Tons Of Marijuana Destroyed In Kadavu". Fiji Sun. 30 January 2023. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Korobiau, Sosiveta (30 July 2026). "Police admit raids alone failed to curb Kadavu drug trade, turn to chiefs". Fiji Sun. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
- ↑ Toganivalu, Pita (29 July 2026). "Kadavu chiefs call for stronger Police presence as marijuana cultivation and meth concerns grow". Fijivillage. Retrieved 17 October 2026.