Betroka
More actions
| Betroka | |
|---|---|
| ActiveRecorded as grown here since 2000 | |
| Geography | |
| Country | Madagascar |
| Province/State | Anosy Region |
| District | Betroka District |
| Coordinates | -23.41, 45.82 |
| Landscape | |
| Area | 13,700 km² |
| Terrain | Dry interior highlands round the town of Betroka, taking in the Andriry area, a remote pastoral massif; approximately Betroka District |
| Climate | |
| Climate Type | Dry |
| Growing history | |
| Dated accessions | 2025 |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 0 |
| Accessions | 1 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Betroka is a landrace cannabis growing area in southern Madagascar, in Betroka District of Anosy Region. In 2020 the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) wrote that the mountainous Andriry region near the town of Betroka was one of the country's two main cannabis-producing regions.[1] In 2021 it reported that the major regions of production, Betroka in the south and Analabe in the north, supplied mostly the domestic market.[2]
Geography
The Andriry massif is a major pastoral zone of southern Madagascar. Large-scale theft of zebu cattle has made it insecure for many years, and the people living inside the massif remain cut off, without basic public services. A United Nations peace project for the massif, launched at Betroka in 2024, works in 14 communes across four regions: Anosy, Androy, Ihorombe and Atsimo-Atsinanana.[3] The Andriry region near Betroka is remote and hard to reach.[1]
The Real Seed Company places its southern Malagasy line in the dry interior highlands of the south, at about 23° S.[4] Its listing of April 2026 said that the seed was collected in the Betroka highlands.[5]
From the mountains to the market
A businessman in Betroka told GI-TOC researchers in 2020 that transporters carried the crop on foot from the mountains and left it at hidden drop-off points outside the town. A prisoner in Betroka said he had been arrested on his way back from the mountains with a load collected for a dealer in Ihosy. From exchange points on the outskirts of Betroka the shipments went by road to Antananarivo and to Toliara, Antsirabe, Ihosy and Fianarantsoa. Betroka's cannabis went mainly to the capital and also supplied markets across southern Madagascar.[1]
At the end of July 2024 gendarmes at Ranomena, in Vangaindrano District, caught six of a party of about 25 men carrying some 50 bundles of about 13 kg each. The men had reportedly fetched the cannabis from the Andriry area of Betroka District and were taking it to Vangaindrano, on its way to the capital.[6] In September 2026 the Betroka gendarmerie found about 50 sacks, weighing up to 364 kg, left in woods at Maroraza, in Tsaraitso commune. Investigators believed that they had come from the hills of Andriry and were bound for Antananarivo by way of Ilakaka.[7]
Cattle raiding and the cannabis trade
In June and July 2020 GI-TOC researchers interviewed the leader of a trafficking group, police officers, a businessman, a prisoner, a former deputy mayor and the public prosecutor in Betroka. The former deputy mayor, once a cattle raider himself, said that many of the leading figures in cattle raiding had turned to cannabis in recent years. The trafficking leader, interviewed under a false name, said that some of his men had been cattle raiders and that he and his deputy controlled hundreds of young men; a police officer put the group at about 150. He also claimed that his group and some 30 smaller ones paid yearly fees to regional civil servants. Other interviewees told the researchers that corruption tied to the cannabis trade was widespread in the area.[1]
In 2021 the GI-TOC reported that trafficking groups in Analabe were heavily armed and imposed their own rule in the production areas, and that its earlier research had found similar dynamics at Betroka. Tantely Ramamonjisoa, head of the national police's anti-narcotics division, said that millions and even billions of ariary in profit circulated in the trade, especially in the production zones of Analabe and of Betroka District.[2]
Accessions
| Accession ID | Name | Collected |
|---|---|---|
| RSC-MDG-ANO-0120250001 | Dzamal (South) General Population 2025 |
The Real Seed Company sells a southern Malagasy line under the name Dzamal, from seed collected in 2025.[4]
Recent news
No recent news items.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (August–September 2020). Cannabis trafficking and endangered-tortoise trade drive corruption in Madagascar. East and Southern Africa Risk Bulletin (Report). Retrieved 18 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (April–May 2021). Madagascar's large-scale cannabis market remains a criminal enterprise. East and Southern Africa Risk Bulletin (Report).
- ↑ "Andriry Milamy : Vers une paix durable et un développement socio-économique" (in français). United Nations Development Programme, Madagascar. 21 June 2024. Retrieved 18 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Dzamal – Madagascar (South)". The Real Seed Company. Retrieved 24 September 2026.
- ↑ "Dzamal – Madagascar (South)". The Real Seed Company. Archived from the original on 21 April 2026. Retrieved 16 September 2026.
- ↑ "Ranomena Vangaindrano : Tra-tehaka ny rongony 650kg" [Ranomena, Vangaindrano: 650 kg of cannabis seized]. Midi Madagasikara (in Malagasy). 9 August 2024. Retrieved 18 October 2026.
- ↑ "Betroka: des tentatives de trafic de cannabis vers la capitale interceptées" [Betroka: attempts to traffic cannabis to the capital intercepted]. Les Nouvelles (in français). Newsmada. 4 September 2026. Retrieved 18 October 2026.