Kasungu medicinal cannabis farmers making progress

Malawi: The United States Cannabis Association (USCA) has commended a group of farmers from the Kalumba Cooperative who cultivate medicinal cannabis at Chambwe Village, Senior Chief Njombwa in Kasungu District despite facing numerous financial challenges and managing to raise funds for seedlings and a greenhouse.

Making the remarks during a media tour to inspect the field's progress on Tuesday, September 13, 2022, USCA's production manager Ted Milanzi acknowledged that farmers have been unable to access loans from money lending institutions, but as an organisation, they are not sitting idle, rather engaging AGCOM, which has already assisted other farmers to come to their aid.

"It is impressive to learn that Kalumba Cooperative managed to source approximately 4 Million Kwacha without any assistance, and this is evidence enough that these farmers are willing to go to any length to fulfil their dream of making profits through Cannabis," he said.

Kalumba Cooperative Coordinator Frank Suzumire was quick to point out that raising the sum of 4 million kwacha wasn't easy, as some had to sell their livestock to contribute.

"We heard that there is a lot of money to be made in cannabis farming, so as a group we decided to give it a shot and see how it goes. We had more people when we first started, but some dropped along the way, which is motivating the rest of us to keep going and reap the benefits. Our current challenge is that cannabis farming is expensive, and we have few options because we are not offered loan opportunities. Our current request is that these financial institutions provide us with the opportunity to obtain loans in order to promote our farming activities,” he stated.

"Cannabis farming will be ineffective unless farmers are given loans to invest in farming activities."

Kalumba Cooperative, which has a government licence and police clearance, has over 50 farmers and operates in the Bua Dam area.

In 2020, the country passed the Cannabis Production and Legalization Act, making it legal to cultivate and process cannabis for medicines and hemp fibre for industrial use.

According to a recent Invegrow Limited analysis, a kilogramme of industrial hemp could fetch $1,444 and provide a potential direct annual benefit to Malawians of more than $134,440,973 on 16.5 hectares or $8,803,663 per five hectares.