Adilabad: Profitability is driving cultivation of ganja as intercrop in interior areas of old Adilabad district, particularly the hilly areas, which police, excise or revenue officials rarely visit.
Ganja cultivation is more in bordering mandals of Boath, Bajarhathnoor, Sarangapur, Tamsi, Bheempur, Gadiguda, Narnoor, Lingapur, Sirpur (U) and Wankidi.
Taskforce police destroyed 92 ganja plants worth ₹ 30,000 in Gubidipalli on September 30. They found that two Adivasi farmers had raised the plants. In another incident, police destroyed 250 ganja plants on outskirts of Mandapalli village in Bheempur mandal on October 3. Both these raids had been led by Adilabad district superintendent of police Rajesh Chandra.
There are even reports of Adivasis cultivating a few ganja plants in their backyard or agriculture fields, though for their own consumption. Some tribal people are raising the crop for middlemen, who supply them ganja seeds and purchase their harvested crop.
Many farmers are also cultivating ganja as an inter crop, as it is more profitable compared to other commercial crops like cotton and soya. Another reason is that the crop can grow without use of fertilisers or pesticides. They also do not require any weeding operations.
