Odisha, India – Ajay Rout is an indigenous farmer from a remote village in the southern region of Odisha, India.

The village is surrounded by forests and hills and is 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from the nearest market.

The 34-year-old grows sweet corn and vegetables on his 0.2 hectare (0.5 acre) land for his family to eat and to sell at the market.

The income was meager, Raut said, so he started cultivating marijuana, an illegal drug, to earn a better income.

He grows around 1,000 cannabis plants deep in the mountains, which takes at least two hours to reach one way because the road is littered with boulders and rocks, making it nearly impossible for him to ride a bike or motorbike.

The cultivation of cannabis (also known as cannabis, hemp, weed and hemp) is legal for medicinal purposes only in a few states, including Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu. Odisha is not one of them.

India had no legislation on narcotic drugs until November 1985, when a law was introduced that included a prohibition on the use of cannabis.

The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985 makes the cultivation, possession, sale, purchase and consumption of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances illegal and failure to do so may result in stiff fines and imprisonment of up to 20 years.

Risky but profitable

Root, who has been working in the industry for the past eight years, served three months in prison in 2017 and has been on bail since then. The income from the business was huge for him, overcoming his fear of getting involved.

“We live in the mountains and the scope of conventional farming is very limited. I barely earn 30,000 rupees ($357) a year by growing vegetables and sweet corn, whereas I can easily earn 500,000 in just five to six months growing cannabis Rs.($5,962)” Disclosure.

Lauter said he and other marijuana growers often choose remote locations in the mountains for their plantations to protect themselves from police raids. “We are lucky to live in the mountains and the police don’t raid here because the road is too difficult to hike to the plantation areas,” he said.

The sowing season begins at the end of July. Typically, the flowers take five months to grow before being picked, dried in the sun, packaged and sold to traders. An 8- to 10-foot-tall (2.4 to 3 meters tall) plant can produce 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of cannabis, costing about 500 to 600 rupees ($5.8 to $7) per kilogram. Farmers sell it to traders for 1,000 to 1,500 rupees ($12 to $18) per kilogram.

“But not all trees produce similar yields, and most do not bloom at all. Excessive rainfall is harmful to crops,” said Deepankar Nayak, a 37-year-old farmer.

lifestyle changes

Although cannabis cultivation is banned in Odisha, it is a lucrative business for farmers, making them rich overnight.

Subhankar Das, 38, who lives in the same village as Root, told Al Jazeera that he had recently changed the floors in his home from concrete to marble tiles using proceeds from the illegal trade. He also bought three motorcycles. His children attend a local language school, but he plans to transfer them to an English school, which is much more expensive.

Das added: “I can even buy a four-wheeler, I can build a palatial house, but we have to avoid such activities as it puts us under the radar of the police, who are always alert to catch us and destroying our fields.” “Some of us bought four-wheelers, though.”

NK Nandi, founder of SACAL, a non-profit organization that works in weed-growing areas, said he has witnessed first-hand the changes in farmers’ lifestyles.

“We started working in the cannabis cultivation area in 2000. The locals are mostly tribal and hardly own two-wheelers and live in mud huts. The marriages are simple and in line with their tribal traditions. But in the past eight to 10 years , everything changed drastically,” Nandy said.

“Each tribal family not only bought two or three motorcycles but also built concrete houses. They held weddings like they did in other parts of the country, spent lavishly and invited several guests. He said the impact of the insurgency in these areas Reductions and improvements in transportation have also helped traders reach these areas, thereby expanding the market for this banned product.

police raid

Currently, cannabis cultivation is active in six districts of Odisha: Koraput, Malkangiri, Rayagada, Gajapati, Budh and Kandhamal, all of which have mountainous and hilly areas terrain.

Senior state police officials told Al Jazeera they were doing their best to stop the illegal trade and had seized about 600 tons of cannabis worth $200 million and arrested 8,500 drug dealers in the three years to 2023. Among the drug seizures, police made their largest single-use seizure last year, when they seized 185,400 kilograms (408,737 pounds) of marijuana worth about $55 million.

Police also destroyed about 28,000 hectares (70,000 acres) of cannabis plantations in Odisha between 2021 and 2023, the largest area of ​​cannabis cultivation in the country, JN Pankaj, former inspector general of Odisha Police Special Task Force, told Al Jazeera The tallest plantation. .

He said that in the first seven months of 2024, his team had seized 102,200 kilograms (225,312 pounds) of marijuana worth about $30 million.

“We use drones and even satellite imagery to track the growing areas and destroy them. The challenge we face is not the hilly terrain but the use of mine explosives in these areas,” Pankaj said, adding that these areas have historically been hideouts for insurgent groups , adding: “This poses a serious threat to the lives of our team.”

He said that while his team has reduced the acreage to eight from 12 a few years ago, huge demand and sky-high prices for the drug are helping the trade thrive. For example, while traders purchase hemp from farmers for about 1,000 rupees ($12) per kilogram, hemp is sold for 25,000 rupees ($298) per kilogram in India’s big cities.

alternative livelihood

Several farmers who were earlier involved in the trade admitted to Al Jazeera that they quit due to excessive police patrols.

“They came to destroy our plantations, cause serious damage to us and arrest people. We can’t spend too much on legal fees and we don’t want our family life to be disrupted,” said Pura, a 50-year-old farmer in southern Odisha state. Prabhat Rout said he switched to millets after growing cannabis for five years.

“While it’s not as lucrative as marijuana, it doesn’t have any of the headaches,” he explains.

Millet is an ancient grain in some parts of southern India, and federal and state governments are working to revive it.

Odisha provides free seeds for sowing and the state purchases the crops from farmers. These incentives help attract farmers to grow the crops and make Odisha a major player in millet production.

For Root, however, no cultivation can rival the profits of marijuana. “Farmers are shifting out of fear, but the income from millet cannot match the profit from hemp. I am willing to take the risk because it is worth it,” he said as he began his arduous trek under dark clouds. his fields.

Editor’s note: The names of all farmers in this story have been changed to protect their identities.