Patkai Bum
More actions
| Patkai Bum | |
|---|---|
| Patkai Range, Patkai Hills, Patkoi | |
| ActiveRecorded as grown here since 2000 | |
| Hierarchy | |
| Gene Pool | South Asian Gene Pool |
| Growing Region | Indo-Burman Range |
| Geography | |
| Country | India |
| Province/State | Arunachal Pradesh |
| District | Changlang District |
| Coordinates | 27.35, 96.10 |
| Landscape | |
| Area | 5,000 km² |
| Terrain | Approximately Changlang District, on the northern side of the Patkai range: hills, with flat land in the Miao, Diyun, Bordumsa and Kharsang circles |
| Growing history | |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 0 |
| Accessions | 0 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Patkai Bum is a landrace cannabis growing area in the hills of the Patkai range in Arunachal Pradesh, India, mapped on Changlang District, in the Indo-Burman Range growing region. In February 2021 the district administration, with the police and paramilitary forces, destroyed poppy and cannabis plants grown on about five hectares at Dirak Pathar and Kumung Pathar villages in the Bordumsa circle of Changlang; the cultivators fled before the team arrived.[1] The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission of 1893–94 expected the small homestead cultivation it found on Assam's northern frontier to extend into the ranges towards the Hukong valley, "the country of the Khamptis and Singphos".[2]
Geography
The Patkai mountain system forms the eastern and southern heights of the old Tirap district and marks the boundary between India and Burma; from it the land descends westward through a series of hills to a narrow strip of the Brahmaputra plains in the north.[3] Changlang District was part of Tirap until 14 November 1987, when it was declared a district of its own. It covers 4,662 km² in the south-eastern corner of Arunachal Pradesh, bounded by Tinsukia district of Assam to the north-west, by Lohit, Namsai and Anjaw districts to the north, by Tirap to the west and by Myanmar to the east and south. Except for the Miao, Diyun, Bordumsa and Kharsang circles and a few narrow strips of flat land, the district is hill country, its hills rising from 200 to 4,500 m; the Noa-Dihing river rises in the Patkai range and flows west through the north of the district. Annual rainfall is 3,800 to 4,866 mm.[4]
History
J. J. S. Driberg, Assam's Commissioner of Excise, surveyed the hills round the Assam Valley for the Commission in answer to its question 70. Past the Naga Hills he came to "the Khamptis and Singphos, over whom we exercise no jurisdiction", and then, north of the valley, to the Mishmis, Abors, Miris, Daflas and Akas. After naming these tribes he said: "In all these hills ganja is grown and is brought down to the plains", adding that "the Miris specially are great offenders".[5] The Commission wrote that the regular cultivation of the Himalayan frontier, the more or less skilful cultivation of small patches beside homesteads, was in evidence as far as the country of the Miris, and "will probably be found also in the lofty ranges towards the Hukong valley and the north of Burma, the country of the Khamptis and Singphos". It had information of the plant being cultivated with some care for fibre and the drugs in the adjoining Kachin Hills. Of the hill tracts within the province and on its southern frontier, it judged that the evidence pointed to cultivation "of a very inferior sort, if indeed the plant is tended at all".[2]
Cultivation
The 2021 operation at Dirak Pathar and Kumung Pathar was headed by the additional deputy commissioner at Bordumsa, Talo Jerang. The cultivators of the poppy had felled trees across the approach road to stop the team, and the police were directed to register cases against unidentified cultivators. The report gives one area for the poppy and the cannabis together, about five hectares, without dividing it between the two crops.[1]
Accessions
No accessions documented yet.
Recent news
No news items are recorded for Patkai Bum yet.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Zauing, Pisi (25 February 2021). "Poppy, cannabis plantations destroyed; cultivators flee". The Arunachal Times. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. I: Report. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. ch. IV, "Extent of cultivation, and its tendency to increase or decrease", paras. 101–102, pp. 39–40 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Dutta Choudhury, S., ed. (1980). Arunachal Pradesh District Gazetteers: Tirap District. Shillong: Government of Arunachal Pradesh. p. 3 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Changlang District Administration. "About District". Changlang District, Government of Arunachal Pradesh. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Evidence of Mr. J. J. S. Driberg, Commissioner of Excise and Inspector General of Police and Jails". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. IV: Evidence of Witnesses from Bengal and Assam. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. Assam witness no. 2, answer 70, pp. 532–533 – via Internet Archive.