IOMMIE CHIWALO
BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-A trace from the country’s Cannabis Regulatory Authority (CRA) on national contribution towards economic development of both medical and industrial varieties is nothing but a dissatisfactory despite years of decriminalisation of the crop.
CRA has no records from its folders on how the crop has helped the country in the past few years and at least in the years to come.
This publication can confirm that in its effort to get information from CRA Corporate Marketing and Communications Manager, Fanny Namonde, never yielded any results despite a week of waiting as her only response was that her organisation has also received a questionnaire from another media house and they do not want to mix up things.
But it has been observed that while the annual fees and non refundable deposits for both medical and industrial hemp are prohibitive, investors are committed to pay only that efforts to promote the product are lacking.
There are confirmed reports that Malawi is failing to import essential goods due to lack of foreign currency despite potential to generate more by promoting strategic crops.
Meanwhile, the Malawi Policy Research Association (MPRA) published an evaluation paper titled ‘Legalising Recreational Cannabis Sativa as Forex Cash Cow for Malawi – Focusing on What the Buyer Wants’, has made serious observations and coming up with recommendations.
The paper projects that Malawi could earn at least USD500 million annually by legalizing and exporting recreational cannabis.
It is the view of economic commentators that such kind of revenue could significantly ease the country’s chronic forex shortages driven by declining tobacco and sugar exports, unreliable industrial output, and persistent trade imbalances.
Both the 2023 Southern Africa Cannabis Growers and Operators Welfare report and the Wikipedia article on Malawi cannabis highlight the global reputation of Malawi Gold, a strain cited by the World Bank as one of the finest sativa varieties from Africa.
According to the World Bank, it ranks among ‘the best and finest’ cannabis strains globally, widely regarded as one of the most potent psychoactive pure African sativas.
At the current exchange rate, USD500 million could expand national electricity access to 70% of the population, boosting industrialization and mining and even matching the USD 500 million power compact Malawi is currently seeking from the World Bank.
A rare moment for politicians from different political ideologies to agree unanimously was witnessed in February 2020 when legislators passed a bill decriminalising the cultivation of cannabis for medical purposes.
Even outside parliament, it was noticed through social media that Malawians were happy to learn that their representatives have made the decision especially when looking at the economic benefits to a country struggling to widen its export base.
The pioneer of the bill at that time Boniface Kadzamira presented that the cannabis will replace tobacco as it will contribute hugely to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Other relevant economic documents also reveals that annual prospects from the crop can alternatively cover 11.71 percent of Malawi’s external debt annually, clearing the entire debt in just over 8 years as well as paying the annual salaries of approximately 85 thousand nurses, based on a mid-range salary level.
An economic commentator based in Blantyre Gresham Kambwiri feels the need to have cannabis commercialized swiftly and aggressively.
On the fears that people might abuse decriminalisation of the crop, Kambwiri said laws are in place and that is also the purpose of having CRA.
“We also know that many countries have legalized cannabis with strict control measures in place. Even Dangerous Drugs Act of Malawi is clear and alive. Such documentation only needs to be made available to the people so that they are aware of repercussions of abusing the privileges other than just creating fear among people while the country is losing out on earmarked areas of generating the much needed foreign currency,” he said.
The decision to decriminalise cannabis was largely driven by economic potential rather than health benefits.
By lay, CRA is mandated to license all activities across the cannabis value chain such as cultivation, processing, distribution, storage, exportation, importation, research, laboratory tests, transportation and medical use.
Invegrow limited is the first cannabis company to be authorised by Malawi government to produce the crop for both commercial and research purposes.
In August 2024 the boxing legend Mike Tyson was named by the ministry of agriculture as an Ambassador for cannabis industry and the prospects of such ambassadorial role are yet to be explained by authorities after year since the announcement was made.
