By Agnes Dumisani Mizere
If there is one of many issues which has created heated debates in our Malawi then the legalization of industrial hemp locally grouped as Chamba is one such thing.
This is despite the fact that industrial Cannabis can be a major export and forex earner.
But the questions is who will be cultivating it and who will be benefiting from its potential wealth?
Malawians or foreigners including the British? Which land would be used and would the scenario be the same as what happens in our Tea industries which had labour issues in the past?
Currently if one checks products imported into Malawi they will be surprised to find that 100% Indian hemp products for hair food and other things.
However there is misunderstanding on the streets as some believe it means every Jack and Jill will be able to grow Malawi’s Gold in their backyards to sell or smoke it.
Others hear Peter Tosh’s song ‘Legalize it’ about weed, marijuana or ganja in relation to the Rastafari movement where it’s used for spiritual reasons among others.
But so far information coming out in our dailies are suggestions from the British High Commissioner to Malawi Michael Nevin asking Malawi “to consider production of Indian hemp for commercial production” with some regulation.
Later online reports talk of trials and a local daily quoted Minister of Agriculture Allan Chiyembekeza saying “government was aware of what hemp has and welcomes other views on the matter.”
But isn’t this an issue we have been hearing about since 2000 or maybe earlier when a Malawian citizen answering to the name of Joe Manduwa suggested it?
It’s a fact that the main foreign currency earner for Malawi at the moment is tobacco which is facing threats on the international market, with serious anti-smoking campaigns by health Organisations including the World Health Organization.
But this is not a new issue!
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Joe Manduwa in 2000 surprised MPs when he stood up in parliament to champion Indian hemp’s legalisation wrote Raphael Tenthani for BBC on http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/708649.stm.
He was called all sorts of names and not taken seriously despite stressing that “Indian hemp has other important uses that can earn this country a lot of foreign exchange.”
Tobacco had been faced with a growing anti-smoking lobby and Manduwa believed hemp could be a valuable alternative to tobacco.
Manduwa in 2000 told MPs that “Malawi stood to gain a great deal from cultivating the plant, which he said was a much-sought-after commodity on the world market.”
“One use for hemp is the manufacture of rope, paper and some cosmetics and requires no insecticides at all.”
According 2000 BBC report, then opposition MP Heatherwick Ntaba, of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), “backed the call for legalisation” saying so many things are produced from Indian hemp besides its medicinal value.
Fourteen years later, nothing was done to look into the issue of local hemp till the British hinted at the same thing as Manduwa who cited its use in other countries.
However reports from the US earlier this year show that, hemp once a mainstay for American farmers has been outlawed for generations under regulations fearing marijuana cultivation.
The same fear exists in Malawi although Malawi’s major donor, Britain told a local daily that “the hemp being suggested is not the illegal cannabis variety known in Malawi as “marijuana”, “Chamba” or “Malawi gold” but an industrial variety which is potentially economically viable.”
He added that the industrial variety of hemp cannot “practically induce the effects seen in the other marijuana variety.”
So the keyword would be regulation but it’s quite tricky because there are people in Malawi who smoke Chamba although illegal. Some is even smoked openly during live shows of certain bands!
To date we have not fully embraced adding value to our products hence we import a lot of Chinese herbs which are well-packaged and ignore our own…if approved would Malawi be exporting raw hemp?
Or will we as a country be able to manufacture the ropes and other fiber things or will a potential uranium scenario happen where foreign companies will benefit?
To date the hemp food global market is estimated to be US$300 million with projections putting it at US$1 billion by 2020 and industrial hemp is undergoing revival in the UK according to Nevin.
Should we believe Nevin when he says that Malawi-based companies, such as Invegrow, are interested in developing the crop to Malawi’s economic advantage and not foreign companies?
Seeing is believing to avoid exploitation of local communities by ensuring Malawians benefit the most from forex and the fruits of their land.
