Zambian authorities recently embarked on a major crackdown on cannabis cultivation across the country, sparking fresh debate on why traditional growers are not being encouraged to become legal.
Zambia already has laws allowing cannabis production, but licenses are prohibitively expensive for most Zambian producers, most of whom appear inclined to take their risks on the black market.
Zambia’s Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC), said in a Facebook posting on 9 July 2025 that “Operation Valleys” had resulted in “significant cannabis seizures and the arrest of several notorious growers in strategic valleys across the country”.
The DEC said about 14 tons of cannabis were seized in and five men arrested during Operation Valleys, lauding it as a crime-fighting success.
However, in a posting on the same Facebook link. in response to the Zambian police statement, the Zambian Harms Reduction Network offered a different perspective.
“Why can’t we bridge the gap between law enforcement and economic opportunity” asks the organization. It says instead of persecuting small scale farmers, who are often desperate, Zambia should look at bringing them into the legal agtricultural mainsteam.
It points out that Zambia already has the legislative foundation in place through the Cannabis and Industtrial Hemp Act of 2021 which allowed for lawful cannabis production.
“We therefore urge policymakers and enforcement agencies to consider alternative models that support livelihoods while meeting legal and public health goals. A cooperative farming systems can be adopted where growers are registered, monitored, and supported.”
The organization says by shifting production from the black market to a regulated supply chain aimed at export to leverage the medicinal markets, would:
- reduce the prison burden,
- channel economic value back to the very chiefdoms where cannabis grows and
- ensure that communities benefit through structured corporate social responsibility mechanisms such as investments in schools, clinics, clean water, and local employment.
“People should not be criminalized for trying to survive in a system that offers few alternatives. By integrating these farmers into legal frameworks rather than removing them through punitive measures, we create a future that is safer, healthier, and economically just”
The DEC said that it had seized made the following cannabis seizures in connection with the offence of Unlawful Cultivation of cannabis plants, pursuant to Section 19 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act Number 35 of 2021 of the Laws of Zambia
- Chifwema area in Kafue District: 8,7 tons: peasant farmer Clifford Chinyana, 27 of Lukumba Village, arrested on suspicion he was selling the cannabis locally in Chibolya, as well as the international market “especially in selected Western countries where policy and legislative frameworks are tilting towards decriminalisation of possession and recreational use of marijuana.”
- Chalasa Village in Mambwe District, Eastern Province: 3,9 tons: Three suspects arrested in separate operations: Francis Chulu, 26, Jackson Chulu, 20, Brian Nkhoma, 23.
- Nyimba District : 21, 8 kg: Benson Zulu, 26, arrest on suspicion of trafficking 21.8 kilogrammes of loose cannabis; popularly known as Malawian Gold.
- Mpika District, Muchinga Province 7,4 kgs: Tanzanina Festo Pardon Mwandete, 46, arrested in connection with trafficking 7.4 kilogrammes of compressed cannabis concealed inside a public passenger bus enroute to Tunduma from Lusaka.
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