Marijuana, mountains and money: How Lesotho is cashing in
The country has managed to attract Canadian investors, who have found the climate and low labour costs ideal for expanding their businesses
BBC News (UK)
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Lesotho is aiming to make money from the booming medicinal marijuana industry, but the southern African nation already has an unheralded illicit trade in the drug for recreational use. The high altitude combined with fertile soils, untainted by pesticides, enables illicit growers to produce a high-quality crop. Last year, Lesotho became the first African country to legalise the cultivation of marijuana for medicinal purposes, spawning a new sector in a country which struggles to create employment opportunities. The government has granted international companies licences to grow, distribute and to export marijuana-based products, but the small-scale farmer cannot afford the infrastructure and licensing costs that the legal trade requires.
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