Three pharmaceutical companies in Zimbabwe have started manufacturing cannabis medicines, according to SABC News. This development comes five years after the Medicines Control Association of Zimbabwe licensed 60 cannabis farmers.
Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube, anticipates the cannabis market could generate $1 billion, potentially outpacing tobacco, currently the country’s top agricultural export, as reported by Reuters. In 2019, officials aimed for cannabis and hemp to boost export markets and foreign currency earnings.
In 2021, Zimbabwe exported 30 tons of industrial hemp to Switzerland. The nation’s medical cannabis legalization was driven by economic factors, aiming to attract investors to Special Economic Zones in Harare, Victoria Falls, and Bulawayo, offering incentives like exemptions from labor laws and black economic empowerment rules.
The first medical cannabis sales were approved in 2022, and in May, President Emmerson Mnangagwa inaugurated a $27 million medical cannabis farm and processing plant by Swiss Bioceuticals Limited in West Province, as reported by High Times. Mnangagwa encouraged investors to emulate Swiss Bioceuticals Limited to support Zimbabwe’s economic growth.
