Mvomero
More actions
| Mvomero | |
|---|---|
| ActiveRecorded as grown here since 2000 | |
| Geography | |
| Country | Tanzania |
| Province/State | Morogoro Region |
| District | Mvomero District |
| Coordinates | -6.60, 37.61 |
| Landscape | |
| Area | 6,600 km² |
| Terrain | Farms reported in protected areas and along rivers; approximately Mvomero District |
| Growing history | |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 0 |
| Accessions | 0 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Mvomero is a cannabis growing area in Morogoro Region, in eastern Tanzania, named after Mvomero District. In August 2026 the Drug Control and Enforcement Authority (DCEA) destroyed 603 acres of cannabis farms in the district, in the villages of Misengele, Lugenge, Kisaki and Nyarutanga. Its commissioner general said that some growers were moving their farms deeper into protected areas to avoid the law.[1]
In 2019 a government minister named Morogoro among six regions where growing bangi, as cannabis is called in Swahili, was proving hardest to contain,[2] and in 2024 the DCEA destroyed 1,165 acres of farms in the region, second only to Mara.[3]: 23
Reports of cultivation
The historian Iddy Ramadhani Magoti cites a Tanzanian 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.[4]: 121 The DCEA counted Morogoro among the regions that led the country in cultivation in 2017.[5]: 22
In August 2024 a nine-day operation by the DCEA, the security agencies and local people destroyed 1,165 acres of cannabis and seized 102 kilograms of seed. The Guardian reported that it covered the villages of Nyarutanga, Lujenge and Mafumbo, in Morogoro Rural and Kilosa districts; six people were arrested at Nyarutanga with 342 kilograms of cannabis. The DCEA's commissioner general, Aretas Lyimo, said that the farms lay along the banks of the Mbakana, Misigiri and Mgeta rivers within Mikumi National Park, that trees had been cut down to make room for them, and that the rivers feed the dam of the Julius Nyerere hydropower station. A resident of Kisaki who had volunteered to clear the farms said that a large area of land had been given over to the crop.[6]
In July 2025 the DCEA reported a ten-day operation, run with the Tanzania National Parks Authority and local communities, that destroyed 614 acres of cannabis farms in the wildlife corridor between Mikumi and Nyerere national parks. It seized 3,741.9 kilograms of dried cannabis and 1,706 kilograms of seed, dismantled 72 camps and arrested nine people.[7]
The operation of August 2026 in Mvomero District destroyed 603 acres of farms and 21 camps used by the growers, and seized 49 sacks of cannabis; 13 people were arrested. Lyimo said that the growers' shift into protected areas was causing heavy damage through the felling of trees and encroachment on water sources. He said that a review of the DCEA's operations since 2023 had found that, although many farms in Morogoro Region had been found and destroyed, some growers kept moving their plots and hiding them inside protected areas, and he called on the managers of those areas to make sure they were not used for growing cannabis.[1] In July to September 2026, the DCEA said, cannabis remained the leading drug in both production and seizures, especially in Morogoro and Tabora regions; in Morogoro it seized 6,299.24 kilograms of cannabis and 226 kilograms of seed.[8]
Accessions
No accessions documented yet.
Recent news
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See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "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.
- ↑ "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 (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.
- ↑ 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).
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Prosper, Joseph (27 August 2024). "DCEA burns 1,165 acres cannabis farms at Mikumi". The Guardian. Dar es Salaam. Retrieved 18 October 2026.
- ↑ Xinhua (16 July 2025). "Tanzania destroys cannabis farms to protect wildlife corridor". The EastAfrican. Retrieved 18 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.