Harare — The cash-strapped Zimbabwean government says it will dangle incentives to foreign investors to grow cannabis in the country as it bids to beef up its revenue streams.
Though she did not say what the incentives are, information minister Monica Mutsvangwa told a post-cabinet briefing that the cabinet had already approved the incentives, which will soon be released by the Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency.
The country recently legalised the growing of cannabis for medicinal purposes as it seeks to tap into the growing global cannabis industry.
“Cabinet got an update on the medicinal cannabis production programme. Government passed measures and regulations guiding investment into cannabis production.
“A competitive regime of incentives has been put in place to attract investment. Details in that regard can be obtained through the Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency (Zida).”
Zida is a licensing agency that offers a “one-stop shop” service for potential investors to speed up processing of permits before beginning operations.
Speaking to Business Day in Harare, a Zida spokesperson said the new incentives will be announced next week. “These incentives are both fiscal and monetary. We are waiting for the go-ahead from the ministry of finance and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe before we make them public.”
Business Day understands that the incentives include land to grow cannabis as well as cheap labour. The cheap labour is likely to be offered by the Zimbabwe Prison Service, which has been licensed by the government to partner with investors interested in growing cannabis.
Africa’s legal cannabis industry could generate more than $7.1bn a year by 2023 if more of the continent’s markets open up and follow the trend of legalisation seen in the US, Canada and Europe, according to a report released in 2019.
According to the report by Europe-based market intelligence and strategic consultancy firm Prohibition Partners, while cannabis remains illegal in most African countries, many nations are keen to embrace cultivation as a way to boost their economies.
“Cannabis is already widely grown and consumed across the continent, with production currently standing at around 38,000 tonnes and consumption rates at 13.2%,” according to the report.
However, African governments have not yet followed the trend of legalisation seen in Europe and the Americas. Only a handful of African countries have taken steps towards legalising cannabis use, including SA, Lesotho and Zimbabwe.
Last month Zimbabwe said growers of cannabis would be allowed to cultivate, market and sell industrial hemp, and researchers may cultivate for research purposes.
Under the country’s laws, merchants can contract individual farmers and procure and process industrial hemp into a specified product.
Before the new rules people who were found growing cannabis in Zimbabwe were liable for a jail term of up to 12 years.
Mutsvangwa also said that Belarus will supply $51m worth of agriculture equipment under a loan scheme to the country’s farmers. The equipment, which includes tractors and combine harvesters, is earmarked to boost Zimbabwe’s agriculture sector, which is struggling to attract foreign investment as a result of the chaotic land reform programme that the country embarked on in 2000.
Foreign affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo said the country was expecting to increase the number of foreign investors in its agriculture sector, after government’s recent undertaking to pay $3.5bn compensation to white farmers who lost land under the violent land reform process.
“We made that decision to pay the compensation from a desire to abide to our constitution. Now that we have made that undertaking the issue is that it is now past because it has been resolved. We expect to get investors into our agriculture sector and we also hope that sanctions imposed on us will be lifted,” he said.
Meanwhile Mutsvangwa also said the government had sent monitoring teams to Beitbridge border post to assess the state of preparedness for the full reopening of the border post, which is the busiest on the continent. The team is expected to report back to the cabinet next week and advise on whether it is safe to fully reopen the border.
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