KETAMA, MOROCCO - In the hills of northern Morocco, vast cannabis fields are ready for harvest, but farmers complain that a government plan to market the crop legally is yet to deliver them any benefits.
But a domestic crackdown on growers, slow progress in issuing licences for legal production and strong competition from European operators has left Rif farmers out in the cold. Souad, who still helps her sons on the family plot despite being in her 60s, holds tentative hope that this will help her community make a better living.Demand for the Moroccan product has dropped as legal, highly regulated, production in Europe has fed the market.
"Farmers are the weak link in the supply chain -- we're the ones who pay the price" for involvement in the illicit market, Karim complained.Nourredine, another cannabis grower, said he too holds out hope that legalisation of the drug could help farmers in the Rif. The state estimates that growers could receive some 12 percent of revenues from regulated cannabis production, compared to just four percent on the black market, according to state news agency MAP.On Tuesday ANRAC, a new government agency inaugurated in June to regulate the industry, issued the first 10 licences to firms that will process the plant for therapeutic purposes.
Singapore Singapore Latest News, Singapore Singapore Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Farmer turns family farm into grand chicken businessA North West chicken farmer has entered the poultry value chain. Poultry people. Given how much of it we import, we need more people like her
Source: SowetanLIVE - 🏆 13. / 63 Read more »
CHRIS BRYANT: The car industry faces an affordability crisisHigh vehicle prices are both an opportunity and a threat for the auto industry. Or you could just say 'everything is getting more expensive because government-issued currencies lose value over time' Buy Bitcoin
Source: BDliveSA - 🏆 12. / 63 Read more »
SA must switch on to burgeoning EV industryGovernment policy is the key to ensuring the country’s automotive industry remains an economic powerhouse They must not nothing! In case you still have not grasped it, we don't have electricity. It would be great. But how do we charge the EVs with Eskom around and long distances in SA?
Source: BDliveSA - 🏆 12. / 63 Read more »