Edo
More actions
| Edo | |
|---|---|
| ActiveCannabis last recorded here in 2026 | |
| Hierarchy | |
| Growing Region | South-western Nigeria |
| Geography | |
| Country | Nigeria |
| Province/State | Edo State |
| Coordinates | 6.63, 5.56 |
| Landscape | |
| Area | 7,100 km² |
| Terrain | Farms reported in forests; approximately the Owan West, Owan East, Ovia North-East and Ovia South-West local government areas |
| Growing history | |
| Dated news reports | 2026 |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 0 |
| Accessions | 0 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Edo is a cannabis growing area in Edo State, Nigeria, in the growing region South-western Nigeria. It covers the four local government areas of the state that border Ondo State: Owan West, Owan East, Ovia North-East and Ovia South-West. A survey of six states in 2019 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) found the highest density of cannabis cultivation in Edo and Ondo, and the densest fields along the border between the two.[1]: 6, 10 Since 2023 the NDLEA has reported destroying cannabis farms in forests of all four local government areas.
Reports of cultivation
Reports to the UNODC for 2003 named Edo among the states where cannabis cultivation was most widespread.[2]: 69 The NDLEA's annual reports give, for Edo State as a whole, 49.589 hectares of cannabis farms destroyed in 2021,[3]: 36 80.94 hectares in 2023[4]: 55 and 33 farms covering 76.09 hectares in 2025.[5]: 65 The report for 2023 names Edo among the four states with the largest concentrations of plantations over the previous two years.[4]: 54
On 14 June 2023 NDLEA officers raided Awakpa forest, in Owan West, and arrested five people in a hut on a cannabis farm of 2.5 hectares, which they destroyed, recovering 102 kilograms already harvested.[6] A month later, on 17 July, they raided the Utese forest in Ovia North-East, where they arrested a man with 640 kilograms of processed cannabis and destroyed his two farms, of 1.49 and 2.45 hectares.[7] In March 2024 the agency put the cannabis destroyed on 5.7 hectares of farms in the Ohosu/Ugbogui forest, in Ovia South-West, at more than 14,310 kilograms, and that on 2.6 hectares in the Uzebba/Avbiosi forest at more than 6,500 kilograms; eight people were arrested in the two operations.[8]
In August 2026 a team from the Edo State command raided a plantation in Ukaro forest, Owan West, where it destroyed a farm of about 0.5 hectares and arrested three people.[9] In the two weeks to mid-September the command destroyed five farms covering 2.27 hectares: two at Monday Camp in Usen forest, Ovia South-West, two in Igwe-Oke forest, Owan East, and one in Ogboha forest, Owan West. Announcing them, the state commander, Mitchell Ofoyeju, said that cannabis farms were spreading through the state's forests and that "what began as a little garden is turning into a large plantation".[10] The command's figures for September add three farms in Ukporwoya forest, Owan West, of 0.12, 0.59 and 0.17 hectares.[11]
Growing practice
The 2019 survey found the fields in Edo the smallest of the six states, with a median of 0.24 hectares, against 0.33 hectares for all the fields it found.[1]: 23 It reports a dry-season crop in every state it covered, raised in nurseries along riverbanks; in Edo the places named for dry-season growing were the banks of the Owan and Osun rivers.[1]: 26 In both Edo and Ondo the edges of some suspected fields could not be made out on the aerial photographs, among other reasons because cannabis was grown with other crops.[1]: 11
Accessions
No accessions documented yet.
Recent news
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2022). Nigeria Cannabis Survey: 2019 Baseline Assessment in Six States (PDF) (Report). United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
- ↑ 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).
- ↑ National Drug Law Enforcement Agency. Annual Report 2021 (PDF) (Report). National Drug Law Enforcement Agency. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 National Drug Law Enforcement Agency. 2023 Annual Report (PDF) (Report). National Drug Law Enforcement Agency. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
- ↑ National Drug Law Enforcement Agency. 2025 Annual Report (PDF) (Report). National Drug Law Enforcement Agency. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
- ↑ News Agency of Nigeria (18 June 2023). "NDLEA destroys 30.9 hectares of cannabis farms in Ondo, other states". Peoples Gazette. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ News Agency of Nigeria (23 July 2023). "NDLEA destroys 33 hectares of cannabis farms in Ondo, Edo". Peoples Gazette. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ "NDLEA launches massive raids in Lagos, Edo, Ondo, seizes 44,948kg drugs, 11 vehicles". National Drug Law Enforcement Agency. 24 March 2024. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ Oji, Chris (26 August 2026). "NDLEA dismantles drug operations, destroys cannabis plantation". The Sun. Lagos. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ "NDLEA Destroys Five Cannabis Farms, Arrests Three In Edo". New Telegraph. 14 September 2026. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Rasheedat, Olanrewaju (8 October 2026). "NDLEA arrests 42 suspects, destroys 10 cannabis farms in Edo". Daily Post. Retrieved 21 October 2026.