This archive report was first published on 10 January 2020.
Senegal's remote cannabis growers evade crackdown ¶
January 10, 2020
Deep in the mangroves of Senegal's Casamance region lies a village where the only commercially viable crop is cannabis. The villagers of Kouba have been cultivating the drug for decades, and a recent crackdown has had little impact on their activities.
"Ever since I was born, people have been cultivating cannabis," says Philippe Diaba, a resident of Kouba. "If you don't grow cannabis here, you can't get by."
The money generated from cannabis sales is attractive in Senegal, where two in five people live below the poverty line. The villagers sort and dry the cannabis stalks by hand, and sell them to traffickers who arrive by canoe.
Senegal seized 12.8 tonnes of cannabis or cannabis resin in 2017, a marked increase on hauls over previous years, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). However, the villagers of Kouba remain undeterred, and continue to cultivate the crop in secret.
"Casamance is one of the regions in Senegal where the most cannabis is produced," an officer from the narcotics division of the Senegalese police told AFP. "The repressive actions of recent years are sending a strong message to networks and producers," said Sheikh Toure of the UNODC office in Dakar.
However, the villagers of Kouba operate in peace, and continue to cultivate cannabis as a means of survival. "The lure of easy money has taken precedence over other considerations," said Victor Diatta, the mayor of nearby Kafountine.
