Volta
More actions
| Volta | |
|---|---|
| ActiveCannabis last recorded here in 2026 | |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 6.40, 0.55 |
| Country | Ghana |
| Provinces/States | Volta Region |
| Area | 9,500 km² |
| Growing history | |
| Dated news reports | 2026 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Volta is a cannabis growing region in the east of Ghana, drawn on the present Volta Region, which lies between Volta Lake and the border with Togo. A review by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in its Bulletin on Narcotics for 2006, named the Volta Region among the four regions that were then Ghana's principal growing areas.[1]: 71 In 2016 the Narcotics Control Board ranked the region first in the country for the use and cultivation of cannabis, known in Ghana as wee.[2] In 2026 police found farms in a forest at Peki-Dzake and on the shore of the lake at Mangoase.[3][4]
Geography
Before 2019 the Volta Region covered 20,570 square kilometres, with Volta Lake to the west, Togo to the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. In February 2019 part of it became a new region, the Oti Region, and the rest kept the name Volta Region.[5] The growing region follows the present region, from Hohoe in the north to the coast.
In 2009 Joy FM's correspondent in the region said that many of the farms lay along Volta Lake, so that the security services had to cross the lake to reach and destroy them.[6] Others have been found in forest: the two plantations destroyed at Peki-Dzake in 2026, in South Dayi District, were in a dense forest, where the growers were also felling trees to make charcoal.[3] At Hohoe the farms of 2015 ran along the banks of the River Dayi and were watered with pumps.[7]
Cultivation history
Before 2000
A trader interviewed for the United Nations study The Drug Nexus in Africa (1999) ranked four kinds of cannabis in Ghana by quality. Second came "taffeta", grown in the Volta Region, with dense leaves and very small, hidden seeds.[8]: 23
Since 2000
At the end of December 2001 a combined force of police, prison officers and soldiers destroyed a farm of 100 acres (40 hectares) in the Volta Region and burnt it; the Narcotics Control Board put the mature crop at three tons. Ten people were arrested. The board said that drug barons in Ghana and abroad sponsored people to grow cannabis, and that more farms had been found and would be destroyed.[9] The UNODC review of 2006 named the Volta, Brong Ahafo, Western and Ashanti regions as the principal growing areas of Ghana.[1]: 71
At Hohoe, in the north of the region, police destroyed farms in 2007, 2009 and 2015.[10][11][7] After the destruction of an 85-acre (34-hectare) farm there in April 2009, the district police commander said that cannabis was grown on a large scale in many parts of the Volta Region, and the correspondent described it as a lucrative business there.[6] When the Narcotics Control Board ranked the region first in 2016, it said that many of its young people had taken to growing cannabis, drawn by a ready market and its value.[2] A study published in 2026, based on interviews with growers in 2024, calls Hohoe a major growing hub of the region.[12]
In July 2026 sixty police officers from Ho cut down and burnt two plantations covering eight acres (about three hectares) in the forest at Peki-Dzake. According to Graphic Online, the seeds were used to feed poultry and sheep grazed on the plants. The regional police commander said that the destruction of farms would be extended to other parts of the region.[3] On 13 October 2026 marine police from Kpando, on a routine patrol, found what they suspected was a cannabis plantation, with 16 sacks of dried leaves, behind a fenced wooden structure along the lake at Mangoase, in Central Tongu District; one man was arrested.[4]
Trade
According to Joy FM's correspondent in 2009, the owners of the large farms in the region lived in Accra and employed boys, some as young as nine, to work them. The growers packed the leaves into small parcels, which were hidden in compartments of vehicles and sent to Accra.[6] The growers at Peki-Dzake mixed the dried crop with charcoal to take it to the towns.[3]
Growing Areas
Accessions
No accessions documented yet.
Recent news
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2006). "Review of the world cannabis situation" (PDF). Bulletin on Narcotics. LVIII (1 and 2). New York: United Nations (published 2008).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Volta Region tops in 'Wee' use & cultivation". GhanaWeb. 22 June 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Noretti, Alberto Mario (20 July 2026). "Police destroy 2 marijuana plantations in Peki-Dzake forest". Graphic Online. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Police arrest man over suspected cannabis plantation near Volta Lake". Ghanaian Times. 19 October 2026. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Asare Boadu, Kwame (15 February 2019). "Brong Ahafo to be known as Bono Region". Graphic Online. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Daabu, Malik Abass (21 April 2009). "Death threats for police over destroyed marijuana farms". MyJoyOnline. Retrieved 18 October 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Farmer remanded for cultivating cannabis". GhanaWeb. Ghana News Agency. 19 March 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2026.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ "100-acre marijuana farm destroyed in Ghana". Mail & Guardian. Sapa-DPA. 31 December 2001. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ "Four persons arrested for cultivating Indian hemp". MyJoyOnline. Ghana News Agency. 17 August 2007. Retrieved 18 October 2026.
- ↑ "Foreigners financing cannabis farming in Ghana". MyJoyOnline. Ghanaian Times. 8 April 2009. Retrieved 18 October 2026.
- ↑ Dovlo, Joyce Mawufemor; Agyei, Samuel Tweneboa; Dwomoh, Festus; Manu, Emmanuel (2026). "Opinions of illicit cannabis growers on the industrial legalization of cannabis in Ghana: an exploratory qualitative study". Substance Use: Research and Treatment. 20 29768357261458735. doi:10.1177/29768357261458735.