It’s interesting that this article landed in the CLR inbox today, as we’ve seen a lot of articles about the Zimbabwe ‘market’ over the past couple of weeks.
As they say… A good hearer! from the Cannabis Culture website
“The excessive hype about Zimbabwe as the next frontier for medicinal cannabis cultivation in Africa was not grounded in reality, but that doesn’t mean some progress hasn’t happened,” says Natalie Zhande, of the Domestic Cannabis Growers Alliance (DCBA). Zhande’s organization is lobbying the Zimbabwean government to ensure that any foreign investors who come to set up hemp processing factories must hand over a tiny part of the capital to women’s groups.
In 2020, Cannabis Culture reported that medical and industrial cannabis is expected to overtake tobacco as a major source of export revenue by the end of 2021. Cannabis players in Zimbabwe at that time, CC reported , had invaded the land, greenhouses and harvest sheds. Companies from as far away as Canada and the Netherlands were teaming up with locals to plant acres of weeds. But today, the cannabis industry in Zimbabwe is flattering to deceive. Local players in Zimbabwe’s cannabis industry are struggling to obtain a license to do business, a respected business weekly has revealed. Of the cannabis players, 60 growers have been laid off but only 12 so far are able to do business. “That’s it – the license fee is $30,000; the treatment for
growers seeking licenses extend up to 14 months; banks prefer to lend to tobacco growers and say cannabis is risky,” Natalie Zhande told Cannabis Culture. “In the meantime, surprisingly, we are seeing foreign players getting licenses quite quickly.”
The Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency, a state body that processes licenses for foreigners wishing to enter the country’s cannabis cultivation and export industry, insists that all licenses are issued equitably for domestic and foreign players and that no favoritism takes place.
The main reason why Zimbabwean cannabis players are struggling to progress is the increasing non-compliance with EU Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) standards, which means not only the EU, but also the agreements to supply the UK public health agency and Canadian healthcare customers. will waste.
“I have heard complaints from local players wishing to export cannabis that the EU is strict and has a high bar to meet,” Arnold Soko, an independent agronomist in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, told Cannabis Culture.
