CANNABIS CULTURE – Why Zimbabwe’s much hyped cannabis industry has lost steam.
“The over-hype over 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 Zimbabwe government to make sure that any foreign investor who comes in to set up hemp processing plants must cede a tiny amount of equity to women groups
In 2020, Cannabis Culture reported that medical and industrial cannabis is set to overtake tobacco as a major source of export cash by the end of 2021. Cannabis players in Zimbabwe by then, CC reported, had swarmed land, greenhouses, and harvest sheds. Firms from as far as Canada and Netherlands were partnering with locals to plant acres of weed. But today – Zimbabwe’s cannabis industry is flattering to deceive. Local players in Zimbabwe’s cannabis industry are struggling to secure license to do business, a respected business weekly revealed. Among cannabis players, 60 cultivators have been licensed but only 12 so far are able to do business. “It’s everything – the fees to get license run into $30, 000; the processing for
cultivators looking to get licenses stretches to 14 months; the banks would rather lend to tobacco farmers and say cannabis is risky,” Natalie Zhande, tells Cannabis Culture. “Meanwhile, surprisingly, we see foreign players getting licenses fairly 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 fairly for both domestic and foreign players and no favoritism takes places.
The big reason why Zimbabwe’s cannabis players are struggling to make headway is the increasing failure to conform with the EU Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards meaning, not only the EU, but deals to supply the UK public health agency and Canada’s healthcare clients too are going to waste.
“I have heard local players wishing to export cannabis complaining that the EU is strict and a high bar to satisfy,” Arnold Soko, an independent agronomist in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, tells Cannabis Culture.
“The EU’s strict certificate regime wants clarity that few pesticides are used on the cannabis crop cultivation; harvest or curing and clear; robust soil testing; clear labelling whether seeds are organic or hybrid. This is too expensive for small cannabis entrepreneurs here in Zimbabwe. The sad side of it is if you fail the EU’s certificate – the British and Canadian clients will shun
you in extension.”
Across Africa, the tiny mountain kingdom of Lesotho was the first country to obtain the coveted EU certificate.
Zimbabwe was seen as a blueprint of how poor, tobacco-dependent nations can switch to cannabis and grow new diversified agricultural economies. In 2020 authorities sounded highly confident when they projected cannabis export sales to reach $1.25bn.
Black tobacco farmers will shun the crop and join the growing allure of cannabis, but players on
the ground say in 2023, the opposite has happened.
“In our association, I count twenty cannabis growers’ association alone who have ditched cannabis and gone back to tobacco where harvest prices are lucrative,” Natalie Zhande, of the Domestic Cannabis Growers Alliance, says. Zimbabwe has sold, 230 million kg of tobacco, a whopping 8.5% rise in mass year on year.
“For now cannabis is floundering, I admit,” Zhande, says.
