Lesotho to export cannabis flower

LESOTHO start-up MG Health has become the first African cannabis grower to win EU permission to export cannabis flower for medicinal use, which can range from relieving chronic pain to treating spasms caused by multiple sclerosis.

Lesotho has helped to pioneer the nascent legal cannabis sector in Africa which could be worth over $7.1billion annually by 2023 if new laws were introduced, the African Cannabis Report said two years ago.

Launched in 2017, MG Health has its cultivation and modern processing facilities at a secluded location about 2 000m above sea level in mountainous Lesotho.

MG Health chief executive André Bothma said the firm had received certification to export cannabis flower as an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) under the EU’s Good Manufacturing Practices protocol.

“What this means is that we have authorisation to export our products as an API into Germany and the wider European market. We expect to start in June,” he said.

Besides the EU, Bothma said they planned to enter the UK and Australian markets.

A growing number of countries around the world are either legalising or relaxing laws on cannabis as attitudes towards the drug change. They include several in Africa, such as South Africa, Rwanda, Morocco and Malawi.

MG Health currently produces about 250kg of packed cannabis flower a month on a pilot-scale production footprint of 5 000m². As soon as exports start, another 10000m² of greenhouse space will be added, officials said.

“Our contract is for a minimum of two tons for the first year,” Bothma said.