Chitral
More actions
| Chitral | |
|---|---|
| ActiveCannabis last recorded here in 2022 | |
| |
| Fields at Sonoghar, seen from Parwak, Upper Chitral | |
| Hierarchy | |
| Growing Region | Hindu Kush |
| Geography | |
| Country | Pakistan |
| Province/State | Khyber Pakhtunkhwa |
| Coordinates | 36.30, 72.50 |
| Landscape | |
| Area | 7,300 km² |
| Terrain | Valleys of the Chitral river and its tributaries in the eastern Hindu Kush; within Upper and Lower Chitral districts; its outer edge leaves out ground above 4,000 m, bare or sparse ground, snow and ice, and open water |
| Climate | |
| Climate Type | Semi-arid mountain climate |
| Growing history | |
| Dated accessions | 2015–2022 |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 1 |
| Accessions | 8 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Chitral is a landrace cannabis growing area in the valleys of the Hindu Kush in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, in the Hindu Kush growing region. Upper Chitral District was separated from Chitral District in 2018. The area holds the Yarkhun Valley appellation, which The Real Seed Company names as the source of its Chitrali seed.[1] In 1991 Nigel Allan counted the making of hashish from cannabis, with opium production, among the sources of rural income in Chitral.[2]
Geography
The Chiantar glacier, at the head of the Yarkhun river, is the longest in the district, at 32 km. Irrigation depends on meltwater from the mountains, above all in the basins of the Yarkhun and its tributary the Turkho; by 1990 much of the land in the south had gone over to maize, and in the north, above the height at which rice grows, to potatoes.[2] The new Upper Chitral District was notified on 20 November 2018, with its headquarters at Booni and two tehsils, Mastuj and Torkhow/Mulkhow.[3]
History
Under British rule Chitral was a route for charas from Central Asia into India. By 1926 a warehouse had been set up at Chitral to stop the smuggling of charas from Central Asia, and in 1930, 334 maunds 17 seers of charas were imported in bond from Chitral into the Punjab and 134 maunds 13 seers into Peshawar.[4] In 1928 charas was among the goods brought into Chitral from Badakhshan.[5]
Uses of the plant
In Lotkuh, a valley of Chitral, the plant is called bong; it is dried and fed to polo horses to keep them warm in winter.[6]
Appellations
| Appellation | Terrain |
|---|---|
| Yarkhun Valley (appellation) | High mountain valley of the Yarkhun river, gorges alternating with broad beds of sand and shingle, irrigated by glacier meltwater; approximately the Yarkhun catchment above Mastuj |
Accessions
| Accession ID | Name | Appellation | Collected |
|---|---|---|---|
| NPG-PAK-KHY-0020190001 | Chitrali #2 General Population 2019 | ||
| NPG-PAK-KHY-0020190002 | Chitral (Passom) General Population 2019 | ||
| NPG-PAK-KHY-0020190003 | Chitral (Brep) General Population 2019 | ||
| NPG-PAK-KHY-0020220001 | Chitrali General Population 2022 | ||
| RSC-PAK-KHY-0120150001 | Chitrali General Population 2015 | Yarkhun Valley (appellation) | |
| RSC-PAK-KHY-0120180001 | Chitrali General Population 2018 | Yarkhun Valley (appellation) | |
| RSC-PAK-KHY-0120190001 | Chitrali General Population 2019 | Yarkhun Valley (appellation) | |
| RSC-PAK-KHY-0120210001 | Chitrali General Population 2021 | Yarkhun Valley (appellation) |
See also
References
- ↑ "Chitrali". The Real Seed Company. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Allan, Nigel J. R. (1991). "Chitral i. Geography". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Vol. V. fasc. 5, pp. 487–494. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
- ↑ "Upper Chitral notified as new district". Chitral Today. 20 November 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
- ↑ United Nations Secretariat (1953). "The surprising extinction of the charas traffic". Bulletin on Narcotics (1). United Nations: 1–7.
- ↑ General Staff, India (1928). Military Report and Gazetteer on Chitral (PDF) (2nd ed.). Calcutta: Government of India Press. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
- ↑ Ullah, Hafiz; Badshah, Lal (19 May 2024). "The ethnobotanical heritage of Lotkuh, a high-altitude tribal haven of Chitral, the Eastern Hindu Kush, Pakistan". Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. 20 (1) 54. doi:10.1186/s13002-024-00687-8.