CSO throws weight behind industrial hemp trials
Cultivation and subsequent use of industrial hemp could be the solution to solving Malawi’s unrelenting economic challenges, executive director of Malawi Watch, Billy Banda, has said.
Speaking on Monday in an interview in Lilongwe, Banda urged donors who are not directly financing government, to channel resources to research of industrial hemp.
Said Banda: “Industrial hemp is not for smoking and I am confident both the former and current proponents are not smokers, but simply think of the benefits.”
Banda said by legalising the plant, potential benefits could be borne through the manufacturing of drugs, clothes, paper, cars, just to mention a few.
“Another positive aspect is the Malawi Pharmacy, Medicines and Poisons Board [PMPB] will be mandated to issue licenses and also certify which variety is grown and in what quantity,” he said.
Banda said government is struggling to convince the buyer to buy tobacco at fair price.
In recent years, tobacco continued to face international pressure from the anti-smoking lobbyists championed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) through its Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) guidelines which seek to abolish tobacco farming in near future.
During the Vision 2020 consultations, the legalisation of industrial hemp was raised by former member of Parliament (MP) and then deputy minister of Agriculture Joe Manduwa.
Following Manduwa’s footsteps, incumbent member of Parliament for Ntchisi North Boniface Kadzamira has also caused uproar in Parliament earlier this year when he revived the campaign.
Meanwhile, industrial hemp trials are underway in Lilongwe.
The industrial hemp has been grown on a one hectare plot using certified seed imported from Canada, Australia and Europe. A commercial licence will be granted upon successful completion of the trials in 2016.
In an interview earlier with Business News Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development, Allan Chiyembekeza, said the research will take two to three years and if it works out it will only be cultivated in commercial farms.
“This is not chamba [marijuana]. It is a new introduction and the leaves do not contain much substance that is hallucinating as chamba itself,” Chiyembekeza said.
He said the role of government has been to introduce the species and researchers will do chemical analysis to see how it compares with chamba to ascertain if the chemical content is indeed different. n
