Zimbabwe is still making progress in turning cannabis into an economic contributor, and now investors have even more incentive to get involved!
By Cannabis News ZA - 05/08/2020
The Zimbabwe Health Ministry has announced that local and international investors looking to dive into the cannabis industry will be offered 100% ownership of cannabis farms and licenses, all in a move to boost competitiveness.
2018 saw the Zimbabwe government approve cannabis cultivation for medicinal purposes. Just last year Zimbabwe had 37 local and private investors display an interest in cannabis farming on local soil.
Investor Incentive
Health Minister, Obadiah Moyo, in a letter addressed to cannabis licensees stated that their 100% offer is with immediate effect, calling for investors to start getting involved.
“Following Cabinet decision and high-level meeting, a policy change enabling investors to hold 100% ownership of Medicinal Cannabis licences was made in order to improve the competitiveness of the sector both regionally and globally,” said Moyo.
During this meeting, it was agreed that investors could opt to use private land for the cannabis project. Having 100% ownership of cannabis farms will be more than enough to entice numerous international and local investors.
“In order to regularise the policy changes a draft Investment Stabilisation agreement is being reviewed by the Attorney General’s office.”. However, as you can imagine, putting these changes into place has been delayed slightly due to efforts directed at managing the ongoing pandemic.
This is a big move from Zimbabwe but surely promises to bring plenty of investment to the local cannabis industry. Paperwork still needs to be finalised but an early jump to getting involved may not be a bad idea. Once you have your license and land, you can get growing on your cannabis farm and only have to worry about renewing your license every 5 years.
Although recreational cannabis consumption is still illegal, this is a great way to break down stigmas of the plant and start opening arms to it. These are big moves from the country when you consider that previously, you could get jailed for up to 12 years for illegal cultivation of cannabis.