While Africa has the highest usage rates (11.4%) among any global region, it ranks well behind North America and Europe in terms of deploying legal cannabis programs.
With the African population projected by 2050 to double to more than 2.5 billion people, their countries are seeking opportunities to increase employment and drive economic growth.
Recent economic analysis for Zimbabwe finds that deployment of medical and industrial cannabis programs would create between 60,000-90,000 agricultural and manufacturing jobs.
Through medical and industrial cultivation, processing, and exports, Zimbabwe’s legal industry could generate beyond USD $300 million in revenues, based on modest (50,000 hectares) cultivation within five years of deployment.
As a major global exporter of tobacco, falling demand leaves Zimbabwe at risk of declining agricultural output and displaced workers for whom cannabis cultivation could offer an occupational remedy.
