Malawi cannabis is a centre of attraction at the ongoing Malawi Investment Forum (MIF) currently taking place at Emperor’s Palace in Johannesburg, South Africa with the Malawi Cannabis Regulatory Authority (CRA) attracting back-to-back meetings with potential investors.

Speaking on the sidelines of the MIF Director General of Cannabis Regulatory Authority, Ketulo Salipira said Malawi cannabis is an area many investors would like to venture into but did not have information how to go about it.

He said CRA has been bombarded with inquiries on how they can participate in the cannabis industry in Malawi and the MIF provided a much needed platform for selling it.

“Malawi cannabis has a special place because of the climatic conditions that are favourable to the production of cannabis and the political stability apart from availability of human resource. We have serious investors and companies from Russia, South Africa, among others who are ready to come and invest in Malawi,” He said.

Trade and Industry Minister, Simplex Chithyola Banda said the CRA is mandated to regulate the cultivation, processing, storage, exportation, importation and distribution and use of medicinal cannabis and industrial hemp in Malawi which has faced teething problems.

“We are glad that Malawi cannabis has attracted so many potential and serious investors who we believe will change the narrative of the industry back home. Government enacted the Cannabis Regulatory Act of 2020 to decriminalize the cultivation, production of cannabis to enhance the economic base of the company and accelerate development.

“Government is working on amending the Cannabis Regulatory Act of 2020 to address issues of decriminalizing the growing of ‘Malawi gold’, issues of restrictive licencing fees and participation of locals in the industry among others,” he said.

One of the potential investors in the Malawi cannabis, Vadim Fedder of Armita Energy Tech Pty Limited: “We are a group of companies in Russia looking for different opportunities especially in the cannabis industry and we have the capacity and technology to extract oils from cannabis with factories in Far East, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan among others. We will modernise the cannabis industry through mechanisation and work with small-scale farmers and cooperatives for a multimillion dollar investment,” he said.

Secretary for President and Cabinet, Colleen Zamba said Malawi is widely known as an agro-economy but it has the potential to be so much more. 

“I would like to reiterate our commitment to our strategic and potential investment partners and implore you all to consider Malawi as your preferred investment destination,” she said.