Shashamane
More actions
| Shashamane | |
|---|---|
| Shashemene, Shashamene, Sheshemene | |
| ActiveGrown here in 2000 or later | |
| Geography | |
| Country | Ethiopia |
| Province/State | Oromia Region |
| Zone | West Arsi Zone |
| Coordinates | 7.20, 38.59 |
| Landscape | |
| Area | 780 km² |
| Terrain | Farmland around the town of Shashamane; approximately Shashemene Zuria woreda |
| Growing history | |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 0 |
| Accessions | 1 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Shashamane is a cannabis growing area in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia, drawn on the Shashemene Zuria district (woreda) of the West Arsi Zone, which takes in the town of Shashamane. A United Nations study of 1999 singled out Shashamane among the places in Oromia where police seized cannabis plants from farmers between 1993 and 1997. It wrote of "the main production centre around Shashamene".[1]: 22, 31 In 2013 police took whole cannabis plants from growing plots at Shashamane, among other places, for a study of the metals in the leaf.[2] In the Ethiopian fiscal year 2018–19 the Federal Police destroyed more than seven hectares of cannabis farms in Shashamane and Addis Ababa.[3]
Geography
The town lies about 240 kilometres south-east of Addis Ababa, at about 2,000 metres.[2] The 1999 study placed it at the junction of five main highways linking the southern and central regions of the country. The production centre around it, the study wrote, was well placed for sending cannabis to regional markets.[1]: 31 Cannabis found throughout Ethiopia, the study wrote, often came from the Shashamane region.[1]: 97
The study named other places where police seized cannabis plants from farmers between 1993 and 1997: the Alemaya district of eastern Hararghe and the Shebendia district of Sidamo. It also reported commercial growing at the monastery of Debre Libanos, 110 kilometres north of Addis Ababa.[1]: 22 The plants taken from growing plots in 2013 came from Shashamane, Butajira and Metema.[2]
The crop and its growers
The 1999 study wrote that most Ethiopians linked the commercial supply of cannabis with the community of Rastafari from Jamaica settled at Shashamane, on land granted to them by the Emperor Haile Selassie. The settlement then counted no more than 40 families, who had grown cannabis for their own use for many years. Shashamane cannabis was thought to be of higher quality than other cannabis grown in Ethiopia. The settlers lost much of their land under the government of Mengistu Haile Mariam. The study's field visits found that Ethiopian farmers had taken up the crop: settlers who married into the surrounding community had built ties with local farmers, many of whom took up cannabis. The settlers had also begun to have it grown on other farmers' land, at first after losing their own and later to escape police watch on their farms. One settler told the researchers, "We taught them how to farm it and helped them with their problems".[1]: 22
The farmers planted cannabis far from the roads and hid it among other crops, for fear of the police. The study found no large-scale fields in the area, but the local police said that growing among farmers had spread widely.[1]: 22 The police assumed that the settlers marketed the crop in Addis Ababa while Ethiopian farmers grew it; the researchers found Ethiopians among the dealers too, with couriers carrying small amounts into the city.[1]: 22
Enforcement
The 1999 study found that, although the public knew that cannabis production was concentrated around Shashamane, there had been no major arrests of farmers or dealers in Shashamane itself. Farmers interviewed there knew that an arrest might not lead to a prosecution, because a bribe could sometimes win a quick release.[1]: 99
All the cannabis analysed in the 2015 study was seized by the police in 2013; the plants from Shashamane were whole fresh plants taken from the growing plots before harvest.[2] In August 2019 Mengisteab Beyene, deputy director of the Counter Narcotics Operation at the Ethiopian Federal Police Commission, said that more than seven hectares of cannabis farms had been destroyed in Shashamane and Addis Ababa during the past fiscal year.[3]
Accessions
| Accession ID | Name | Collected |
|---|---|---|
| EAG-ETH-ORO-0120210001 | Shashamane Sativa 2021 |
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See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (March 1999). The Drug Nexus in Africa (PDF) (Report). ODCCP Studies on Drugs and Crime, Monograph series 1. Vienna: United Nations.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Zerihun, A.; Chandravanshi, B.S.; Debebe, A.; Mehari, B. (2015). "Levels of selected metals in leaves of Cannabis sativa L. cultivated in Ethiopia". SpringerPlus. 4 (1) 359. doi:10.1186/s40064-015-1145-x.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Xinhua (2 September 2019). "Ethiopia destroys over 7 hectares of cannabis farms". The New Times. Kigali. Retrieved 21 October 2026.