ASR District Free of Ganja Cultivation; Farmers Take Up Alternate Crops

Visakhapatnam: Narcotics are no longer grown in the Alluri Sitarama Raju (ASR) region, once called the capital of ganja harvesting and trading. Instead, farmers who used to grow hemp have shifted to high-value crops with encouragement from the state government.

“We have achieved zero ganja cultivation by 2025,” ASR district superintendent of police (SP) Amit Bardar said. According to local estimates, the weed was growing on 15,000 acres.

Confirming his claim, the SP told this correspondent on Friday that analysis of satellite heat maps showed that ganja was no longer grown in the ASR region. They followed up the satellite work with physical verification using a drone.

Bardar said efforts are being made to check the movement of the weed through Odisha, where it is widely grown and routed through Andhra Pradesh. Police conducted a survey to identify outsiders encouraging local farmers to grow hemp. They also identified tribal youths whom the outsiders used to transport the herb to other parts of the country.

SP said, “We counseled farmers and youths in the agency area on how ganja would destroy them. They were given a vivid picture of people languishing in various prisons without any early sign of help.”

Bardar said the state government has successfully encouraged farmers to grow alternative crops like avocado, coffee, rajma, lychee, rambutan, coconut and medicinal herbs, which will provide them with a better income.

“So far, 29,000 farmers have received seeds of various commercial crops,” the SP said.