The Cannabis Research Authority’s (CRA) of Malawi used its presence at the National Agriculture Fair in Blantyre to reach out to interested parties and members of the public to raise awareness around its diversification drive.
The CRA also holds the official license rights to the Malawi Gold brand, and launched a range of CBD products at the Fair. Ironically enough, legislation does not allow for Malawi Gold’s traditional high THC strain to be grown as part of the medical cannabis programme.
The regulatory authority was a noted exhibitor at the three-day fair held over the weekend. It showcased its work under the theme: “Towards Commercialisation and Economic Transformation through Smart and Sustainable Agriculture Systems”.
The theme was designed to demonstrate the CRA’s incremental diversification to high-value production and commercialisation after a successful off taking and cultivation phase that laid the groundwork for Malawi’s cannabis industry.
The CRA said in a statement it wanted to promote:
· Smart Agriculture – Promoting modern, compliant, and sustainable cannabis & hemp farming.
· Commercialisation – Driving value addition and export of high-value products through processing licenses.
· Economic Transformation – Enabling job creation, new value chains, and investment opportunities in Malawi’s economy.
CRA stakeholder licensees Invegrow Limited, Cann Leisure Centre and the research department at LUANAR (Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources) partnered the CRA to showcase the theme.
“At the fair, we were raising awareness about cannabis and hemp business opportunities and also promoting licensing for a regulated and transparent industry. We also built strategic partnerships with agricultural stakeholders and on top of that showcased hemp-based products such as hair & body oils, CBD oils, hemp tea, pain relief products, shelled seeds (rich in omega-3 & 6), smokables, infused honey and cookies.
“Together, we are shifting from subsistence to high-value agriculture, unlocking opportunities for growth and transformation in Malawi!”
The Back Story to Cannabis in Malawi, courtesy Cannavigia:
In May 2020 the Republic of Malawi became the eighth African country to legalise the growing of medicinal cannabis, known as chamba. Ironically enough, with the exception of Rwanda, all sub-Saharan African countries that have legalised the grow are ex-British colonies.
Malawi has the world’s most tobacco dependent economy but due to world-wide anti-tobacco legislation, the income from this export has been dropping steadily.
During the 2020 season, Malawi’s tobacco output fell by 31.3%. At the same time Malawian cannabis, especially the dried in a banana-leaf cultivar Malawi Gold, has achieved legendary status and is accepted to be the best strand coming out of Africa.
Ironically enough the new legislation does not allow for Malawi Gold’s traditional high THC strain to be grown as part of the medical cannabis programme.
Whereas tobacco is part of the colonial legacy of the country, the growing of cannabis is very much part of the traditional character of Malawi. Cannabis was widely used by the entire population as an intoxicant and as medicine in treating conditions like anthrax, dysentery, fevers, malaria, chicken pox or snakebites. When
British colonists arrived in Malawi in the mid-19th century, they found that cannabis use was already widespread with people consuming it for medicinal and recreational purposes. Livingstone observed local people cultivating and using it in 1865. Malawi cannabis is also woven into many of the myths and legends of the country.
The economic potential of the fast-growing global medicinal and industrial cannabis industry has been the main driver of the law change in Malawi. In 2019, the World Bank said Malawi “remains one of the poorest countries in the world despite making significant economic and structural reforms to sustain economic growth”.
The national poverty rate was more than 50% in 2016. Notwithstanding that, the bill to legalise medicinal and industrial production faced huge opposition from social and religious conservatives in the country.
After three decades of one-party rule, the country held multiparty presidential and parliamentary elections in 1994 under a provisional constitution that came into full effect the following year. Population growth, increasing pressure on agricultural lands, corruption, and the scourge of HIV/AIDS pose major problems for Malawi.
The country is landlocked, and Lake Malawi is the country’s most prominent physical feature. It contains more fish species than any other lake on earth.
The economy of Malawi is predominantly agriculture based. Agriculture accounts for 30 percent of the gross domestic product and generates over 80 percent of national export earnings.
The agriculture sector employs 64 percent of the country’s workforce and contributes to food and nutrition security. Some of the challenges the sector faces include vulnerability to weather shocks, poor management of land, water and soils, low adoption of agricultural technologies, low access to finance and farm inputs, low mechanisation and technical labour skills, a limited irrigation system and weak linkages to markets.
Malawi has a narrow industrial base and weak intersectoral linkages.
Agricultural expertise is abundant, the minimum wage is 0.65 euro per day and unemployment is almost 8%. Median age is 16, literacy rate is 62%.
Criticism from local tobacco farmers and illegal cannabis growers who want to go legit circles around three issues. The general feeling is that the US$10 000 licensing fee is way too high for the average farmer to afford.
Secondly the farmers are claiming that the legal aspects of forming the co-operatives that the government is encouraging is laborious, overtly bureaucratic and time consuming.
There is also disaffection because only two strands of cannabis are allowed to be grown, none of which are local. This means that the seeds’ resistance to domestic problems are less.
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