Wild Coast
More actions
| Wild Coast | |
|---|---|
| ActiveRecorded as grown here since 2000 | |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | -31.71, 28.95 |
| Country | South Africa |
| Provinces/States | Eastern Cape |
| Area | 18,100 km² |
| Growing history | |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
The Wild Coast is a cannabis growing region on the coast of the Eastern Cape, South Africa, running from the Mtamvuna River in the north to the Great Kei River in the south.[1] It lies in the former Transkei, long known as a major cannabis-producing area.[2]: 607 Cannabis is grown in most parts of the Wild Coast stretch of the former Transkei, and Eastern Pondoland has produced the most for many decades.[2]: 607 Its growing areas include Mpondoland, round Lusikisiki and Port St Johns.
Geography
The Wild Coast is the northern stretch of the Eastern Cape's coastline.[1] Thembela Kepe, writing in 2003, called it the Wild Coast stretch of the former Transkei.[2]: 607 A study of 2024 placed cannabis growing in the Eastern Cape in the eastern part of that stretch.[3]: 261
Craig Paterson, writing in 2009, counted the former Transkei within the modern "dagga belt", which in Paterson's description also takes in Lesotho and runs along the Natal border regions to Eswatini, parts of southern Mozambique and Mpumalanga, and which has an ideal ecology for cannabis.[4]: 26 Paterson found cultivation most concentrated in Lesotho, Eswatini and the former Transkei, and named three districts on which the southern African trade centres: Pondoland round Lusikisiki, Hhohho round Piggs Peak in Eswatini and Mokhotlong in Lesotho.[4]: 3
Cannabis in the homeland period
Paterson argued that in creating the apartheid homelands, the Transkei most importantly, the South African government gave up its ability to police them, and that the tolerance of the authorities there amounted to a de facto legalisation of cannabis.[4]: 81–82 Paterson quoted members of the Transkei parliament from Streek and Wicksteed's book of 1981. W. M. Madikizela, the member for Bizana, said that dagga was "a money-making commodity" and that "in my area there are many youngsters who own cars because they have found the sale of dagga very lucrative".[4]: 82–83
Seasons
On visits in September 2006 and April 2007 Paterson found that growers in the former Transkei usually took two harvests a year: a main harvest between January and April and a smaller one, of lower quality, between September and November.[4]: 89
Trade
Paterson wrote that most of the cannabis from the former Transkei was moved south towards Cape Town, with quantities sold in East London, Port Alfred, Port Elizabeth and George, and that a large amount went north to Durban. In Paterson's account, large-scale buyers took the best of it, so that cannabis sold openly in the region was usually of lower quality than that sold outside it.[4]: 89–90 Paterson wrote that much of the cannabis sold in Natal was called Durban Poison, though Natal took much of its supply from the former Transkei and Eswatini. None of the suppliers Paterson met on the Natal coast sold cannabis from Natal; all sold cannabis from the Transkei, from Eswatini or from both.[4]: 73
Kepe wrote that tourists and merchants from the cities were among the most valuable customers of the Wild Coast's growers. A trip for European backpackers, marketed as "The Marijuana Trail", began on the coast in November 2000.[2]: 607
Seed and quality
A cannabis trader told Paterson that foreigners brought Skunk seed to the Transkei as early as 1984 and asked local growers to raise it for them, and that other growers took plants from one grower's garden, after which the plants were seen all over. One other dealer gave the same date; everyone else Paterson interviewed placed the arrival about five years later.[4]: 106 Paterson wrote that the quality of Transkei cannabis had since fallen sharply, and suggested cross-pollination as a cause: growers there removed fewer male plants than growers in Eswatini, and two planting seasons a year doubled the chances of crossing.[4]: 107 In Paterson's view the former Transkei had seen production rise while the value of its trade fell, because of the loss of quality and a market wanting better cannabis.[4]: 115
Hashish
Paterson found that by 2009 soft, hand-rubbed hashish said to come from the former Transkei was being sold on a commercial scale in Cape Town. In 2005 a local at Coffee Bay offered Paterson hashish said to be made nearby.[4]: 112 Paterson found that hashish made by sieving in water was becoming fairly popular in the former Transkei in 2008 and 2009, particularly in coastal areas less visited by tourists.[4]: 113
Policy since 2018
The Eastern Cape Rural Development Agency said on its website that it was "intent on formalising the informal cannabis market in the Wild Coast belt". The first of its two cannabis projects was to be at the Magwa Tea Estate, between Lusikisiki and the coast. GroundUp reported in July 2024 that the projects had yet to gain real momentum.[5]
Growing Areas
| Growing Area |
|---|
| Mpondoland |
Accessions
| Accession ID | Name | Collected | Locality |
|---|---|---|---|
| VIB-ZAF-EAS-0100000001 | Lusikisiki Poison General Population | Lusikisiki |
Recent news
No recent news items.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "The Wild Coast, Eastern Cape". South African Tourism. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Kepe, T. (2003). "Cannabis sativa and rural livelihoods in South Africa: politics of cultivation, trade and value in Pondoland". Development Southern Africa. 20 (5): 605–615. doi:10.1080/0376835032000149252.
- ↑ Dumani, A.; Silwana, T.T.; Mpambani, B.; Oyedeji, A.O.; Egbichi, I.; Seepe, A.H. (2024). "Identification of medicinal Cannabis landraces found in Lusikisiki, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa". Journal of People, Plants, and Environment. 27 (4): 259–267. doi:10.11628/ksppe.2024.27.4.259.
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 Paterson, C. (2009). Prohibition and resistance: a socio-political exploration of the changing dynamics of the southern African cannabis trade, c. 1850 – the present (MA thesis). Rhodes University.
- ↑ Nowicki, L. (29 July 2024). "Mpondoland dagga growers left out to dry". GroundUp.