Police have unearthed cannabis cultivation on about 20 acres of farmland in Maharashtra›s Yavatmal district and seized more than 10 quintals of the contraband worth nearly Rs 30 lakh, officials said.
Though growing cannabis on farmland is illegal here, activists said farmers in the district are way too distressed over an array of issues and some of them might take the wrong path. They demanded immediate government intervention to address farmers› woes. The cannabis plants, which are used to produce drugs, were grown between cotton and tur crops in six different farms spread over 20 acres in Ghonsara and Bargwadi villages in Mahagaon taluka, officials said.
Nearly 10 to 12 quintals of cannabis valued at Rs 25 lakh to Rs 30 lakh have been seized, Superintendent of Police Pavan Bansod said.
Manish Jadhav, Yavatmal president of farmer outfit Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, sought to highlight issues like floods, drought, crop failure, lack of fair market prices and resultant farmer suicides. He said this situation has become so bad that some are resorting to growing cannabis.
Jadhav claimed that 200 farmers have ended their lives in Yavatmal in the last nine months.
He blamed the Centre for its «anti-agrarian» policies. «Farmers facing deep economic distress might go on the wrong path and cultivate cannabis,» he said. In the past, the activist said, farmers had demanded that they be allowed to grow cannabis or ganja if the government can›t alleviate their woes. Kishore Tiwari, farmer activist and former chairman of the state›s Vasantrao Naik Shetkari Swavlambi Mission for farmers› welfare, told that he doesn›t support the cultivation of cannabis but the government should intervene and provide relief to agri growers who are in deep distress. Tiwari said, «Such a thing is happening (in Yavatmal) for the first time in 40 years.»
