By Haroon Aron

Malawi congress party’s presidential candidate Dr Lazarus Chakwera has proposed the cultivation of cannabis for sourcing the extra foreign currency which tobacco is failing to earn for the country.

Tobacco is not earning for the country as much as it used to, before the numerous anti-smoking campaigns got serious

He made the suggestion during the first of the three slated presidential debates organised by MISA Malawi.

Responding to the moderator’s question on what MCP plans to do about tobacco, Chakwera discreetly stated that we have other Tobacco-like cash crops, which currently are only used for smoking, but can be used in the production of so many things, jet oil among others.

Investments made in the hemp industry elsewhere have proved cannabis sativa a very valuable cash crop.

The present government is failing to make a clear decision on the legalization of industrial hemp. An announcement was made by the government a few weeks ago that it will soon start issuing out temporary licences for the cultivation of industrial hemp.

It is not clear how these temporary licences will differ from the official ones, only thing clear is that these temporary licences are not convincing enough for serious investors to start laying the ground work for the billion dollar hemp projects.

Chakwera’s proposal has come at a time when a number of investors are awaiting government’s stand on the legalization of industrial hemp.

Should Malawians decide to choose Chakwera to lead in the next few years, the economy is expected to improve substantially with revenue from the Hemp industry