This report from News Day Zimbabwe, published on 4 August 2026.
Zimbabwe’s finance minister Mthuli Ncube (pictured here) says that the fee reductions had been approved by Cabinet on 3 August 2026.
“We are trying to drive investment, frankly,” Ncube told a post-Cabinet media briefing on 4 August 2026, explaining that the measures are intended to lower the cost of entering the sector and encourage more farmers and investors to participate in the emerging industry..
He said the lower fees would reduce compliance costs, encourage investment and support Zimbabwe’s drive to diversify exports as global pressure on tobacco consumption intensifies.
“You may know that we tried in the past to encourage our tobacco farmers to go into the growing of industrial hemp so as to diversify away from tobacco because of the anti-tobacco lobby.”
New license fees
· The industrial hemp registration fee has been reduced to US$250 from US$500
· the annual farmer registration fee has been cut to US$50 from US$200.
· the application processing fee has been cut to US$1 000 from US$10 000,
· the five-year medicinal cannabis licence fee has been reduced to US$15 000 from US$50 000.
· the five-year licence renewal fee has been lowered to US$7 500 from US$50 000,
· the research fee reduced to US$1 000 from US$5 000, and the inspection fee cut to US$400 from US$2 500 per inspection.
· the government also sharply reduced fees for medicinal cannabis licences administered by the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe.
· the penalty for the late submission of annual returns has also been reduced to US$1 500 from US$15 000 per incident.
Ncube said that foreign investors had the choice of industrial hemp and medicinal cannabis opportunities across several industries, including pharmaceuticals, textiles and manufacturing.
“Medicinal hemp has so many uses. Oil can be used for making drugs for curing cancer and so forth. Industrial hemp has so many uses — you can make fibre, bags and sandals. This is a lucrative business, and we think that by dropping the registration and licensing fees, we should be able to encourage more investment into the sector, create more jobs and grow our exports,” Ncube said.
#
