Lower Ili
More actions
| Lower Ili | |
|---|---|
| ActiveCannabis last recorded here in 2026 | |
| |
| Satellite view of Lower Ili, Sentinel-2 cloudless mosaic by EOX, 2016. | |
| Geography | |
| Country | Kazakhstan |
| Province/State | Almaty Region |
| Coordinates | 44.53, 76.71 |
| Landscape | |
| Area | 2,300 km² |
| Terrain | River floodplain; approximately the right bank of the Ili, 10 km wide, from the Kapchagai dam to the head of the delta |
| Growing history | |
| Dated news reports | 2023–2026 |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 0 |
| Accessions | 0 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Lower Ili is a landrace cannabis growing area of wild hemp on the right bank of the Ili river below the Kapchagai dam, in Almaty Region, Kazakhstan. Between 2009 and 2013 B. K. Kasymbekov and D. G. Faleev studied weedy hemp, Cannabis ruderalis, in seven plant communities of the floodplain on the right bank of the lower Ili, near the Kerbulak tract; in them it grew as a constituent, a subdominant or the dominant.[1]: 282–283 In July 2026 police mowed more than a tonne of wild hemp in Balkhash District, at a place a suspect stopped on the Bakanas–Topar road showed them.[2]
The river below the dam
The Kapchagai hydroelectric station flooded the Ili valley upstream of the dam, forming a reservoir about 160 to 180 km long and 3 to 5 km wide. Below the dam the water level of the river fell sharply. The floodplain no longer floods, water no longer fills the old channel and its side channels, and the shallow lakes of the delta have dried up; the reed beds have gone, and the tugai woods and thickets of the floodplain have thinned.[3]
The border of the growing area is drawn along the right bank of the Ili, 10 km wide, from the Kapchagai dam to the head of the delta, where the river divides into its arms.
Wild hemp
Kasymbekov and Faleev studied the roots of weedy hemp in 19 plant communities of the city of Almaty and in seven of the right-bank floodplain of the Ili. In the floodplain communities the plants covered 20 to 80 per cent of the ground, and hemp was among the constituents, the subdominants and the dominants. In one community, on sandy loam 50 m from the river and 2 to 3 m above it, hemp was the dominant, with cocklebur (Xanthium strumarium) and Artemisia scoparia as subdominants. The ground there lay on a stock route near a watering place and was badly damaged by overgrazing; the plants covered no more than 15 to 20 per cent of it. Hemp is usually a plant without mycorrhiza, but the roots of the hemp in this community carried the fungus, in some samples heavily, from 2009 to 2013. The authors suggest that the harsh conditions there, the dry climate and the overgrazing, may account for it.[1]: 282–284
A. Childibayeva and colleagues described a stand of the rose Rosa iliensis in the floodplain of the right bank below the Kapchagai station, near the low-mountain massif of Malaysary, at 417 m. In its fourth layer, 60 to 70 cm high, Cannabis ruderalis grew with Artemisia scoparia.[3]
Eradication
In August 2023 police and the National Security Committee, using drones, found a plantation of drug hemp in a remote part of Balkhash District, where a resident of Almaty had sown cultivated "Indian" hemp on one hectare; more than five tonnes were destroyed when it was found, and more than ten tonnes in all over several days.[4]
In July 2026, during the police operation Қарасора (Karasora), police stopped a car at the 9th kilometre of the Bakanas–Topar road in Balkhash District and found almost 7 kg of fresh marijuana gathered in the steppe. The 35-year-old suspect showed them where it had been gathered, and police mowed more than a tonne of wild hemp there.[2]
Accessions
No accessions documented yet.
Recent news
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Kasymbekov, B.K.; Faleev, D.G. (2014). "Арбускулярная микориза ассоциированная с Cannabis ruderalis Janisch предгорий Заилийского Алатау". Вестник КазНУ. Серия экологическая (in русский) (1/1 (40)): 281–284.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Более тонны наркосодержащих растений изъяли в Алматинской области" [More than a tonne of drug-containing plants seized in Almaty Region]. 24KZ (in русский). 9 July 2026. Retrieved 29 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Childibayeva, A.; Ametov, A.; Kurbatova, N.V.; Akhmetova, A.; Tynybekov, B.M.; Mukanova, G.A. (2022). "Structural characteristics of Rosa iliensis Chrshan. under conditions of the floodplains of the rivers Ili and Sharyn". Journal of Ecological Engineering. 23 (1): 296–304. doi:10.12911/22998993/143943.
- ↑ "Плантация индийской конопли обнаружена в Алматинской области" [A plantation of Indian hemp found in Almaty Region] (in русский). Kazinform. 28 August 2023. Retrieved 29 October 2026.