The Sunday News
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
ZIMBABWE could be losing millions in potential foreign currency in cannabis exports after it emerged that only about 10 percent of licensed entities and individuals were operating.
In 2020, the global cannabis extract market size was valued at US$8.3 billion and is projected to reach a revised size of US$22.6 billion by 2027. In an online webinar on developing a vibrant cannabis industry in Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Industrial Hemp Trust (ZIHT) founder and chief executive officer (CEO), Dr Zorodzai Maroveke said with about 60 or plus medicinal cannabis licences having been issued, only about 10 percent of those were active.
“There are about 60 or plus medicinal cannabis licences that have been issued, I believe that only 10 percent are active and by active I mean preparing, have produced or are somewhere there in the process.
“A whole 90 percent are not active for a number of reasons and could be facing challenges such as financing, compliance, markets, misaligned policy, lack of technical expertise, stakeholder fragmentation and lack of research and development, among other things,” said Dr Maroveke.
She said the same was the case for industrial hemp with about 20 permits having been issued so far, five percent were going to research and development, 35 percent were for merchants and 60 percent for cultivators.
Dr Maroveke said recreational cannabis use which involves using cannabis for personal enjoyment rather than for health purposes such as smoking, spiritual and traditional healing purposes was still illegal in Zimbabwe, while illicit statistics showed that it was worth around US$56-200 million.
She said for the country to have a vibrant cannabis industry, certain challenges needed to be addressed that include financing with more banks coming forward to fund projects in the sector.
“Full commercialisation of both sectors will require education and awareness. As well as political will, innovation, stakeholder engagement and coordination, funding and market development among other key things.”
Harare Institute of Technology lecturer, researcher, Dr William Nyasha Mavengere presenting on opportunities for trans-disciplinary cannabis research and innovation in Zimbabwe said as the country develops its cannabis industry, there was need not to neglect value addition.
“We need business and management scientists to design a cost-effective model to capture the domestic medicinal cannabis market.
If we have a ‘short-term pain, long-term gain’ view of the cannabis industry, our cannabis industry will not only replace tobacco as our top earner, but will drive our whole economy forward,” said Dr Mavengere.
In a presentation titled Medicinal Cannabis optimisation and research, University of Zimbabwe (UZ) pharmaceutical department lecturer Dr Joey Chifamba who is also a chartered industrial chemist and pharmaceutical nanotechnology expert said one of the lessons learnt from seven years of cannabis medical research is that medicinal cannabis sativa research requires a very multidisciplinary approach.
“Among some of the lessons learnt is that too much regulation in medicinal research is counter productive and the new regulations are rather opaque for exploratory and value addition researchers. Also, it’s either you adapt or die in the sector.”
Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ) senior regulatory officer, Ms Pamela Kadare urged players in the sector to follow regulations.
“The legalised production of cannabis is for medicinal and scientific uses only. The first licence was issued in April 2019, up to date we have issued 57 licences.
“The cannabis produced is currently for export purposes only and local use of cannabis produced in Zimbabwe can only be in the form of research and development.
Only producers licensed in terms of the S.I. 62 of 2018 are allowed to handle cannabis from their licensed sites,” she said.
She said as MCAZ they regulated the import and export of cannabis by issuing import or export licences prior to any importation or exportation.
“For Zimbabwe to import or export cannabis, it has to be allocated quota by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), and this is renewed yearly.
“MCAZ ensures that Zimbabwe has a quota by providing estimates and statistical returns to INCB.”
In terms of quality control and quality assurance, MCAZ handles cannabis related complaints, product recalls and adverse events reporting.
