Shivamogga
More actions
| Shivamogga | |
|---|---|
| Shimoga | |
| ActiveRecorded as grown here since 2000 | |
| Hierarchy | |
| Gene Pool | South Asian Gene Pool |
| Growing Region | Western Ghats |
| Geography | |
| Country | India |
| Province/State | Karnataka |
| District | Shivamogga District |
| Coordinates | 14.04, 75.22 |
| Landscape | |
| Area | 8,500 km² |
| Terrain | Approximately Shivamogga District; the forested Malnad country on the eastern side of the Western Ghats |
| Growing history | |
| Earlier names | Shimoga district, Mysore |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 0 |
| Accessions | 0 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Shivamogga (Shimoga in older sources) is a landrace cannabis growing area in Shivamogga District, Karnataka, India, in the forested hill country of the Malnad. It is in the Western Ghats growing region. In 2010 the Deccan Herald reported cannabis cultivated in forest clearings and among ginger and maize on the forest fringes of the Shikaripur, Sagar and Shimoga taluks, and in 2017 it called the district "the hub of ganja cultivation in state".[1][2]
History
In the 1890s cultivation of hemp in the princely state of Mysore, to which the district then belonged, was allowed only under licence, and the state's Excise Commissioner, L. Ricketts, told the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission that almost no one grew it.[3] In his evidence he said that "The wild hemp flourishes only in the Malnad districts", Kadur and Shimoga, where rainfall was abundant, and that its growth there was sparsely scattered in the forests and not dense anywhere.[4]: 58 J. G. McDonnell, the Special Assistant Excise Commissioner, wrote that the plant had been found growing even in the Malnad after the heavy south-west monsoon rains were over.[5]
Cultivation
Forest clearings, 2009–2010
The Deccan Herald wrote in January 2010 that the Malnad, once known for sandalwood, spices and areca nut, was "turning into a haven for cultivation of ganja". In October 2009 the police had raided a farm at Kalakoppa near Shimoga where ganja was grown, and similar raids followed on farms on the forest fringes of the Shikaripur, Shimoga and Sagar taluks. In 2009 the police seized 35 quintals of ganja in the district and booked 18 cases of cultivation and transport. According to the paper, cultivation in the deep forests and among ginger and maize on the forest fringe had gone on for several years and was spreading; patches of forest in the three taluks were cleared and planted with ganja for a year or two. It traced the crop's arrival to the early 1990s, when ginger was introduced to the region, and reported that landless labourers who farmed forest-fringe land without title were used to grow it.[1]
Since 2017
In October 2017 the Deccan Herald reported, citing police sources, that 800 kg of cannabis plants had been seized in Shivamogga district in the previous ten months, the most of any district in the state. The police were using drones and combing operations in all seven taluks; cultivation was said to be in Kumsi village of Shivamogga taluk and in parts of the Sagar and Shikaripur taluks. Y. R. Mohan, the Deputy Commissioner of Excise, said that farmers grew it among maize, cotton and ginger; 505 plants had been seized in the previous fifteen days and at least 15 cases of illegal cultivation registered in the previous month.[2]
Accessions
No accessions documented yet.
Recent news
No news items are recorded for this growing area yet.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "High on hemp". Deccan Herald. 18 January 2010. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 DHNS (22 October 2017). "Shivamogga: the hub of ganja cultivation in state". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Memorandum on ganja in Mysore, by Mr. L. Ricketts, Excise Commissioner". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. III: Appendices, Miscellaneous. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. p. 135 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1895). Supplementary Volume: Evidence of Witnesses from Native States. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India – via Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Memorandum regarding ganja and its preparations in Mysore, by Mr. J. G. McDonnell, Special Assistant Excise Commissioner in Mysore". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. III: Appendices, Miscellaneous. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. p. 147 – via Internet Archive.