Morogoro
More actions
| Morogoro | |
|---|---|
| ActiveGrown here in 2000 or later | |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | -7.92, 36.99 |
| Country | Tanzania |
| Provinces/States | Morogoro Region |
| Area | 70,100 km² |
| Growing history | |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
The Morogoro growing region is drawn on Morogoro Region, in eastern Tanzania. Tanzania's Drug Control and Enforcement Authority (DCEA) reports the cannabis farms it destroys region by region. It named Morogoro among the leading regions for cannabis growing in its reports for 2016, 2017 and 2022.[1][2]: 22[3] In 2024 it destroyed 1,165 acres of cannabis farms in the region, more than in any other region except Mara.[4]: 23 Operations against the crop have found farms along rivers, in forest and inside protected areas, around the Uluguru Mountains and in and near Mikumi National Park. Mvomero is a growing area within the region.
Geography
Cannabis, called bangi in Swahili, and khat are grown in Tanzania in places that are hard to reach: mountains, forests and the sources of water.[1]: 10 The DCEA links the felling of native trees for these farms to environmental damage in parts of the Uluguru range, among other mountain areas.[2] Speaking during an operation in Morogoro Region on 2 August 2023, its commissioner general, Aretas Lyimo, said that the region's growers farmed beside rivers, cut trees inside the forest to clear land and diverted water to irrigate their plots. The farms reached in that operation, he said, lay six hours' walk at a military pace from where the vehicles had to be left.[3]
The operations of 2023 and 2024 found farms at Rumba village, in Kisaki ward, and at Mbakana village, both in Morogoro Rural District,[3] and along the banks of the Mbakana, Misigiri and Mgeta rivers within Mikumi National Park. Those rivers feed the dam of the Julius Nyerere hydropower station.[5] In 2025 farms were destroyed in the wildlife corridor between Mikumi and Nyerere national parks.[6]
Cultivation history
Before 2000
The historian Iddy Ramadhani Magoti names Morogoro first among the regions of Tanzania where cannabis growing, and police operations against it, were reported from the 1960s to the 2020s.[7]: 120
Since 2000
Magoti cites a newspaper report of November 2006: police had destroyed about 1,000 acres of cannabis, put at more than 150 tonnes, in an operation around the Uluguru Mountains in Mvomero and Kilombero districts.[7]: 121 In the same year a man tried in a Morogoro court for one joint of cannabis told the court that he smoked it to give himself energy for farming work.[7]: 126
The minister's foreword to the DCEA's report for 2016 says that cannabis was produced in every region of mainland Tanzania, especially in Mara, Morogoro and seven other regions.[1] Its report for 2017 lists Morogoro among the eight regions that led in cannabis farming that year.[2]: 22 In 2019 a government minister named Morogoro among six regions where growing was proving hardest to contain,[8] and the DCEA's report for 2022 put it among the five regions where cannabis farming was most widespread.[3]
An eight-day operation of 2023 in Morogoro, Morogoro Rural and Mvomero districts, run by the DCEA with the National Service at Ruvu and other security bodies, destroyed 489 acres of farms: 350 in Morogoro Rural and 139 in Mvomero. It seized 131 sacks of dried cannabis and 120 kilograms of seed; 18 people were held.[3] In the whole of 2023 the DCEA destroyed 2,389 acres of cannabis farms in Arusha, Morogoro and Mara regions.[9]: 21
In August 2024 a nine-day operation in the villages of Nyarutanga, Lujenge and Mafumbo, in Morogoro Rural and Kilosa districts, destroyed 1,165 acres and seized 102 kilograms of seed. Lyimo said that trees had been cut down to make way for the crop. A resident of Kisaki who had volunteered to clear the farms said that a large area of land had been given over to it.[5] The DCEA's report for 2024 gives the same figure, 1,165 acres, for Morogoro Region, out of 4,733 acres destroyed in eleven regions.[4]: 22–23 In July 2025 a ten-day operation with the Tanzania National Parks Authority and local people destroyed 614 acres in the corridor between Mikumi and Nyerere. It seized 3,741.9 kilograms of dried cannabis and 1,706 kilograms of seed; 72 camps were dismantled.[6]
In August 2026 the DCEA destroyed 603 acres of farms and 21 growers' camps in Mvomero District. Lyimo said that a review of its operations since 2023 had found that, although many farms in Morogoro Region had been found and destroyed, some growers kept changing their growing places and hiding them inside protected areas.[10] In July to September 2026 cannabis remained the leading drug in production and seizures, especially in Morogoro and Tabora regions, the DCEA said; in Morogoro it seized 6,299.24 kilograms of cannabis and 226 kilograms of seed.[11]
Growing Areas
| Growing Area | Status | Region |
|---|---|---|
| Mvomero | Active | Morogoro Region |
Accessions
No accessions documented yet.
Recent news
No news items are recorded for this growing region yet.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Mamlaka ya Kudhibiti na Kupambana na Dawa za Kulevya. Taarifa ya Hali ya Dawa za Kulevya ya Mwaka 2016 (PDF) (Report) (in Kiswahili). Dar es Salaam: DCEA.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Mamlaka ya Kudhibiti na Kupambana na Dawa za Kulevya. Taarifa ya Hali ya Dawa za Kulevya ya Mwaka 2017 (PDF) (Report) (in Kiswahili). Dar es Salaam: DCEA.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 "Gunia 131 za bangi zakamatwa Morogoro". Mamlaka ya Kudhibiti na Kupambana na Dawa za Kulevya (in Kiswahili). 1 November 2023. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Mamlaka ya Kudhibiti na Kupambana na Dawa za Kulevya (June 2025). Taarifa ya Hali ya Dawa za Kulevya ya Mwaka 2024 (PDF) (Report) (in Kiswahili). Dar es Salaam: DCEA. ISBN 978-9912-9896-5-8.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Prosper, Joseph (27 August 2024). "DCEA burns 1,165 acres cannabis farms at Mikumi". The Guardian. Dar es Salaam. Retrieved 18 October 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Xinhua (16 July 2025). "Tanzania destroys cannabis farms to protect wildlife corridor". The EastAfrican. Retrieved 18 October 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Magoti, Iddy Ramadhani (2023). "Exploring the value of cannabis and changing mindset for advancing socio-economic development in Tanzania, 1891–2023". Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences. 12 (2).
- ↑ "Revealed: Tanzania's six top regions in marijuana growing". The Citizen. Dar es Salaam. 6 November 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2026.
- ↑ Mamlaka ya Kudhibiti na Kupambana na Dawa za Kulevya (May 2024). Taarifa ya Hali ya Dawa za Kulevya ya Mwaka 2023 (PDF) (Report) (in Kiswahili). Dar es Salaam: DCEA. ISBN 978-9912-9896-4-1.
- ↑ "Ekari 603 za mashamba ya bangi zateketezwa Morogoro". Mamlaka ya Kudhibiti na Kupambana na Dawa za Kulevya (in Kiswahili). 18 August 2026. Retrieved 12 October 2026.
- ↑ "Kilo 18,078 Za Dawa Za Kulevya Zakamatwa Katika Operesheni Za Mikoa 14". Mamlaka ya Kudhibiti na Kupambana na Dawa za Kulevya (in Kiswahili). 29 September 2026. Retrieved 12 October 2026.