Uganda is set to issue its first hemp permit soon to Mwamic General Enterprises, which conceived the Uganda Sativa Project as a way of building the country’s hemp supply chain and empowering small-scale farmers and legacy growers in Eastern Uganda.
Mkwanic organized an industrial hemp symposium and public outreach event as part of Uganda Operation Sativa. Thousands of women gathered on 9 July 2025 at Kakindu Stadium in Jinja City to learn about the crop’s economic promise. The project focuses on women farmers as the basis of community development.
Mwamic Managing Director Michael Mwandha said the company’s efforts have pushed hemp onto the national policy agenda.
“Hemp can mean a lot in terms of economic empowerment and development in Uganda—job creativity, local production of raw materials,” Mwandha said.
Although regulations separating hemp from marijuana remain underdeveloped, Mwamic has pressed ahead with pilot trials and stakeholder engagement.
The company began with a planting of just 192 seeds in Bwigula, Eastern Region, and generated 2,300 seeds from that first harvest.
With a focus on mass seed production and a network of model and out-grower farmers, the Sativa Project aims to reach 45,000 veteran growers and establish Uganda’s first processing facility for fiber, hurd, and seed oil.
Community members identify themselves as “stakeholders, partners, and investors” in the future of hemp, and Mwamic has begun developing digital platforms to track and connect grower groups across Uganda.
Plans include a hemp training institute, a biochar production program using maize cobs, and formal registration of local SACCOs (Savings and Credit Cooperative Organizations) to help finance farming operations.
Despite gaps in national policy, the Uganda Sativa Project’s combination of agronomic trials, grassroots mobilization, and growing political interest has laid the groundwork for the country’s emerging hemp economy.
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