Afram Plains
More actions
| Afram Plains | |
|---|---|
| ActiveRecorded as grown here since 2000 | |
| Geography | |
| Country | Ghana |
| Province/State | Eastern Region (Ghana) |
| Districts | Kwahu Afram Plains North District, Kwahu Afram Plains South District |
| Coordinates | 6.90, -0.20 |
| Landscape | |
| Area | 5,200 km² |
| Terrain | Low-lying savannah and woodland between the Afram River and Volta Lake, with islands in the lake; approximately Kwahu Afram Plains North and South districts |
| Growing history | |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 0 |
| Accessions | 0 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Afram Plains is a landrace cannabis growing area in the Eastern Region of Ghana, in the low country between the Afram River and Volta Lake.[1]: 4[2]: 32 By the late 1990s the Afram plains were among the newer growing areas of Ghana, with the Ashanti Region and Brong Ahafo.[3]: 22 In August 2022 officers of the Forestry Commission found a cannabis farm of about 80 hectares in a forest reserve in Kwahu Afram Plains North District.[4]
Geography
Most of the land in the northern district lies between 60 and 120 metres above sea level. The plateau at Donkorkrom is its only high ground. The Afram River drains it on the west, Volta Lake on the east and the Obosom River on the north.[2]: 32 By the district assembly's account, most of its villages are on islands in the lake and its tributaries and can be reached only by boat or canoe.[2]: 6 The vegetation is transitional savannah and savannah woodland. Forest reserves cover about 120.8 square kilometres, some 15 per cent of the district.[2]: 33 About a quarter of the southern district is water. Travel in and out of it depends on a ferry.[1]: 4
The Afram Plains District was created in 1993 with its capital at Donkorkrom. It was renamed Kwahu North District and in February 2012 divided into Kwahu Afram Plains North and Kwahu Afram Plains South districts.[2]: 4 The southern district has its capital at Tease. Most of its people are migrants from the Volta Region and northern Ghana who came for farm work.[1]: 4 In the northern district the largest group is the Ewe, at 61.7 per cent of the population.[2]: 6
Spread of the crop
A United Nations study of 1999 found that cultivation began in the 1940s and 1950s in parts of the Eastern Region close to Accra and then spread north-west to the new growing areas of Ashanti, the Afram plains and Brong Ahafo.[3]: 22 In the account of Laurent Laniel (1995), quoted by Éric Léonard, cannabis growing followed the old cocoa-growing regions. From about the mid-1960s it spread in the Ashanti Region, first around Kumasi and then east towards the Afram plains.[5]: 96
A trader interviewed for the 1999 study ranked the kinds of cannabis sold in Ghana. Best was "no seed dope", grown in the most fertile soils, often marshy and deep inside forests, on the Afram plains, in Ashanti and in Brong Ahafo.[3]: 23
The Obuo Akroma farm
On 13 August 2022 a Forestry Commission team led by its district manager, acting on a tip-off, raided a cannabis farm of about 80 hectares in the Obuo Akroma Forest Reserve (also reported as the Akroma Forest Reserve).[4][6] They arrested five people, among them a secondary-school teacher of agriculture said to be in charge of the farm; others escaped. The officers found 13 tents in which the growers lived and a sign reading "Don't attempt". They also found harvested cannabis in sacks and plastic containers, with seedlings raised for planting out. The Ghanaian Times called it the largest cannabis farm ever discovered. The district forest manager said that the commission would step up its operations against cannabis growing in the area.[4] The magistrate court at Donkorkrom remanded the five in police custody.[7]
Accessions
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Recent news
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See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Kwahu Afram Plains South District Assembly (2026). Composite Budget for 2026–2029: Programme Based Budget Estimates for 2026 (PDF) (Report). Ministry of Finance, Ghana. Retrieved 18 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Kwahu Afram Plains North District Assembly (2026). Composite Budget for 2026–2029: Programme Based Budget Estimates for 2026 (PDF) (Report). Ministry of Finance, Ghana. Retrieved 18 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 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.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Largest "wee" farm uncovered in Afram Plains …5 arrested for cultivating 80 hectare cannabis farm". Ghanaian Times. 15 August 2022. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
- ↑ Léonard, Éric (1998). "Crise des économies de plantation et trafic de drogues en Afrique de l'Ouest : les cas ivoirien et ghanéen" (PDF). Autrepart (in français) (8): 79–99.
- ↑ "Five including SHS teacher arrested for cultivating cannabis in Kwahu Afram Plains North". 3News. 13 August 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2026.
- ↑ Ampadu Agyeman, Ama Tekyiwaa (16 August 2022). "5 cultivators of 80 hectares of 'wee' remanded". Ghanaian Times. Retrieved 18 October 2026.