Rwanda has approved the cultivation and export of cannabis joining other countries in Africa like Uganda, South Africa, Malawi, Zambia, Lesotho, and our next-door neighbor Uganda. If you’re stuck on the economic sense of this, here’s what I’ve gathered from some quick reading

The global market for medical cannabis is currently estimated at $150 billion & could reach $272 billion in 2028.

The African Cannabis Report shows that the African legal cannabis market could top US$7,1 billion by 2023 if key markets legalize medical and recreational cannabis.

Some countries are on this already & are making big bank.

In Morocco, though illegal, The trade employs at least 800,000 people, according to Bloomberg, and is worth $10 billion a year in sales.

In comparison, the Republic of Kenya exported an estimated US$3.44 billion worth of products around the globe in 2019. Moroccco earns almost 3 times more from cannabis than Kenya earns from exporting EVERYTHING

In 2017, Lesotho became the first African country to allow the cultivation of cannabis for medicinal purposes. Deputy health minister told AFP that the legalization of cannabis presented “a huge opportunity for the country…It attracts investors,”

In Malawai The government is now cultivating hemp on a trial basis, ahead of potential legalization of the non-psychoactive cannabis strain for industrial uses such as fabric and food products.

Zambia’s motivation for legalizing cannabis exports is rooted in a hefty fiscal deficit and a growing debt burden. Green Party President Peter Sinkamba, said the move could earn Zambia up to $36 billion annually.

Zimbabwe’s health ministry issued new regulations, allowing individuals and companies to be licensed to cultivate marijuana, known locally as mbanje.
Zimbabweans are now able to apply for licenses to grow cannabis for medical and research purposes.

Next door in Uganda, in 2019, their first year, the country landed deals to export medical marijuana products to Canada and Germany to the tune of US$160 million in June of 2019.

In 2019 Kenya’s 6th biggest export, Vegetables raked in $225 million

Tobacco and manufactured substitutes, our 9th biggest export brought in $70.6 million

Uganda will probably have beaten both in a year or two.

We need to act quick as a country on this