Growth of industrial hemp permitted

Zimbabwe will change its laws to allow farmers to grow industrial hemp for export, Cabinet Ministers have confirmed. A report on the IoL site notes that the government sees the plant as a future substitute for tobacco, the country's biggest export earning crop. Industrial hemp is a strain of a cannabis species that is grown specifically for industrial uses of its derived products. Its fibre is used in textiles and paper, and it also produces edible seeds. Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said ‘industrial hemp will widen the country's industrial and export base’. The country’s laws only allow for the cultivation of cannabis for medical and scientific uses.