Tarime
More actions
| Tarime | |
|---|---|
| ActiveRecorded as grown here since 2000 | |
| Geography | |
| Country | Tanzania |
| Province/State | Mara Region |
| District | Tarime District |
| Coordinates | -1.40, 34.47 |
| Landscape | |
| Area | 1,500 km² |
| Terrain | Farms in the Mara River valley; approximately Tarime District, with Tarime town |
| Growing history | |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 0 |
| Accessions | 0 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Tarime is a cannabis growing area in Mara Region, in northern Tanzania, named after Tarime District. In the account of the historian Iddy Ramadhani Magoti, a United Nations summary of government reports for 1945 listed Tarime among the places in Tanganyika where cannabis was grown.[1]: 118 In 2023, after an operation in Tarime and Rorya, the commissioner general of the Drug Control and Enforcement Authority (DCEA) said that residents had made the basin of the Mara River a special area for growing cannabis,[2] and in 2024 an operation in Tarime and Serengeti districts destroyed more than 3,000 acres of farms.[3]
Reports of cultivation
Magoti also cites a newspaper report of November 2006 that police in Mara Region had destroyed 4,000 kilograms of cannabis grown on two acres at Turugeti village, in Bumera ward of Tarime District.[1]: 121 The DCEA named Mara among the regions that led the country in cultivation in 2017.[4]: 22 In 2019 a government minister listed Mara among six regions where growing bangi, as cannabis is called in Swahili, was proving hardest to contain.[5]
The Mara River valley, 2023 and 2024
In October 2023 a week-long operation by the DCEA and the security agencies in Mara Region destroyed 807 hectares of cannabis farms and seized 507 sacks of dried cannabis ready to be moved, with 50 sacks of seed. Two factories for processing and packing the drug were destroyed and 11 people were arrested. The Daily News reported that residents kept people from other areas away from the river basin without their permission. The DCEA's commissioner general, Aretas Lyimo, said that they had shut the office of a village chairperson and condemned a village executive officer for not supporting the farming, and that some village leaders were renting out land for it. He warned that the farming could damage the Serengeti National Park and the river basin. A Tarime resident said that many young people grew cannabis to make money quickly.[2]
A three-week operation reported in October 2024 destroyed 3,007.5 acres of cannabis in Tarime and Serengeti districts and seized 7,832.5 kilograms of dried cannabis and 452 kilograms of seed; 17 people were arrested. It covered Matongo, Nyarwana and Weigita villages in the Masinki Valley, and Nkerege, Kembwe, Nyakunguru and Iseresere villages near the Mara River valley.[3] Lyimo said that the farming in the region was financed by people from neighbouring countries, who provided capital to farmers in Tarime; once the crop was ripe it was harvested and taken away for sale. He gave the people of the region three months to stop. The Tarime district commissioner, Edward Gowele, said that his district was struggling with the farming, especially in the Mara River valley. An official of the Lake Victoria Basin Water Board said that he had seen cannabis grown in the valley and that even lawful crops had to be planted at least 60 metres from the river bank, and an agricultural officer said that many farmers relied on water from the river for their cannabis.[6]
During the operation the people of Nkerege village, in Kiore ward, decided to help cut down and destroy the farms, after residents had fled their homes for fear of arrest. Their ward councillor said that the village had rejected cannabis, and an elder of the Wasweta clan said that any young person caught growing it would be fined five cows. The secretary of the elders said that they would grow maize and sesame and keep livestock instead.[6] The DCEA's annual report gives 3,045 acres of farms destroyed in Mara Region in 2024, the most of any region.[7]: 23
After 2024
In September 2025 The Citizen reported the arrest in Mara Region of a man found with 6.5 tonnes of cannabis, who was alleged to have run a cannabis-growing and trafficking network in Tarime District for a long time, supplying buyers in the country and abroad.[8] In July 2026 operations in Tarime and Rorya districts destroyed 291.2 acres of cannabis farms and seized 15 sacks of dried cannabis and four motorcycles; two people were arrested. Lyimo said that cannabis farming in Mara Region had fallen by about 80 per cent because of the government's continuing operations. The executive officer of Nkerege village said that it had been among the places worst affected by the farming, and that many residents had since given it up for lawful work.[9]
Accessions
No accessions documented yet.
Recent news
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See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 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).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Takwa, Esther (10 October 2023). "Operation destroys 807 hectares, seizes 507 sacks of marijuana". Daily News. Retrieved 12 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Prosper, Joseph (10 October 2024). "Anti-drug enforcers arrest 17, burn 3,000 acres of cannabis". The Guardian. Dar es Salaam. Retrieved 18 October 2026.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ "Revealed: Tanzania's six top regions in marijuana growing". The Citizen. Dar es Salaam. 6 November 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Said, Mariam (9 October 2024). "Tonnes of cannabis seized, farms destroyed". Daily News. 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.
- ↑ Nachilongo, Hellen (8 September 2025). "No safe haven for drug dealers, warns Tanzania's enforcement authority". The Citizen. Dar es Salaam. Retrieved 18 October 2026.
- ↑ "Kilimo cha bangi Mkoa wa Mara Chapungua kwa Asilimia 80 Kufuatia operesheni Endelevu za Serikali". Mamlaka ya Kudhibiti na Kupambana na Dawa za Kulevya (in Kiswahili). 28 July 2026. Retrieved 18 October 2026.