0 Farmers cultivating narcotics have crops destroyed

Rohmat was able to finance his daily needs and cover the tuition fees for all of his four children, thanks to 100 square meters of khat plants he had cultivated in his backyard. He will now have to rely on alternate means of generating money after the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) ordered residents in Cisarua, Bogor, to destroy all khat plants (Catha edulis) planted in 55 different places across the district, with a total area of 3 hectares. The plants were easy to find in North Tugu, South Tugu and Cibereum villages in Cisarua — a breezy area in Puncak, Bogor, that is frequented by domestic and foreign tourists. 

According to information gathered by The Jakarta Post, a café in Cisarua that often welcomes tourists from the Middle East also sells khat tea. The BNN’s instruction, following its discovery of massive khat plantations in Cisarua, was issued because khat is included in the 2009 Narcotics Law’s group I. Substances listed in group I can only be used for scientific purposes, not for therapy, as they have the potential to be highly addictive. A recent raid by the BNN at celebrity Raffi Ahmad’s South Jakarta home last month led to the discovery of, among other drugs, khat. 

It is alleged that Raffi had been consuming methylenedioxymethcathinone — supposedly a khat derivative. A local figure who represents Cisarua’s youth, Dudi Hasan, said khat plants were first introduced to Cisarua in 1997 by a Yemeni tourist who owned a villa in South Tugu village. The presence of the lush khat plants in Cisarua, he said, took visiting Arab tourists by surprise because it was illegal to grow khat in all Middle Eastern countries except Yemen. Dudi said locals, attracted by the high price and encouraged by demand, began to cultivate khat, unaware of the legal status of the plant. 

He said green khat leaves sold for Rp 400,000 (US$41.38) to Rp 800,000 per kilogram, reddish leaves Rp 300,000 to Rp 500,000 per kg and red khat leaves Rp 300,000 to Rp 1.2 million per kg. Rohmat, a khat farmer in Cibereum village, said he had cultivated khat since 2005. “I made quite a lot of money from planting khat, and buyers — usually tourists from Arab countries — came to my house directly,” he told the Post. “I sold a quarter kilogram of green khat leaves for Rp 150,000 to Rp 200,000. The money financed my daily meals and tuition fees for all of my four children.” Rohmat said he was unaware that khat contained narcotics and that he would abide by the BNN’s instruction. 

“However, I would like to have replacement plants to replace the loss of income,” he said. Dian Firmansyah of the BNN’s Cisarua chapter said his office had disseminated information to khat farmers about the danger of the plants to people. “Many residents didn’t know what kind of danger they were dealing with by planting khat. Some of them even used khat to treat rheumatic ailments and diabetes,” he said. “We advise people to stop planting [khat] and to cooperate with the authorities.”

source : the jakarta post