Sabaki River valley
More actions
| Sabaki River valley | |
|---|---|
| ActiveCannabis last recorded here in 2026 | |
| |
| Hell's Kitchen at Marafa, Kilifi County | |
| Geography | |
| Country | Kenya |
| Province/State | Kilifi |
| Coordinates | -2.93, 39.75 |
| Landscape | |
| Area | 7,700 km² |
| Terrain | River valleys inland of the coast at Malindi; approximately the Malindi and Magarini sub-counties |
| Growing history | |
| Dated news reports | 2026 |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 0 |
| Accessions | 0 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Sabaki River valley is a cannabis growing area on the coast of Kenya, in Kilifi County, mapped on the Malindi and Magarini sub-counties. In 1999 a study by the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention named the Malindi district as the centre of cannabis growing on the Kenyan coast, "with most growers located in the valleys of the Sabaki and Athi rivers".[1]: 21 In August 2026 a security raid at Divayo village, in Malindi Sub-County, uprooted 43 kilograms of growing cannabis plants.[2]
Geography
According to the 1999 study, the Coastal Province had "over the past decade or so" also become a major producer of cannabis. In the Malindi district most growers worked the valleys of the Sabaki and Athi rivers, where conditions were favourable. It also notes that land consolidation had been slower there, and that in remote parts it was easier for farmers to find land for the crop without much fear of detection.[1]: 21
The same study names other sources of the coast's supply outside the Malindi district: large commercial plots in the Kilifi district and the Chyulu Hills, the uplands of Taita-Taveta, and cannabis grown across the border in Tanzania. The study describes a large market among the people of the coastal towns, with tourists as a further and potentially very lucrative one.[1]: 21
Recent reports
In 2006 the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime counted the coast as one of the three parts of Kenya with fairly large-scale cultivation, with the Lake Victoria basin and the central highlands around Mount Kenya.[3]: 75
In a report of 4 August 2026, Capital FM described an early raid by a multi-agency security team, acting on intelligence, on Divayo village in Malindi Sub-County. The team uprooted 43 kilograms of growing cannabis plants, seized 8.5 kilograms of harvested cannabis and six rolls, and arrested two people. The seized material, with an estimated street value of 1,548,000 shillings, were held as court exhibits at Langobaya police station.[2]
Accessions
No accessions documented yet.
Recent news
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 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.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Mandela, Yvonne (4 August 2026). "Malindi multi-agency raid yields over 1.5 million shillings in cannabis". Capital FM. Nairobi. Retrieved 29 October 2026 – via AllAfrica.
- ↑ 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).