Observer Report
Islamabad
The federal cabinet has approved the production of industrial hemp by the government in a decision that could result in a $1 billion market for Pakistan in the future, Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry said on Wednesday.
The minister had first announced the decision on Tuesday on Twitter, saying the cabinet had approved the first license for the science and technology ministry and the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research for industrial and medical use of hemp. He said the “landmark decision” would place Pakistan in the international cannabidiol market worth billions of dollars.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Chaudhry said some people were misinterpreting the cabinet decision as allowing the cultivation of a poppy-like crop in Pakistan which could be used to make addictive drugs.
He clarified that the industrial hemp plant contains a compound called cannabidiol, which can “play a very important role” in medical therapies meant to mitigate severe and chronic pain. He noted that several countries including China and Canada were cultivating hemp on tens of thousands of acres.
The plant’s seed is used to make hemp oil, the leaf is used in medicines, while the stem is used to make fibre that could one day replace cotton in the textile industry, according to the minister.
Chaudhry made it clear that the plant’s production was approved to be carried out only under government control for now, so that further research and safeguards of the production could be developed.
“We want the hemp market to generate $1 billion [in revenues] for Pakistan in the next three years,” he said, revealing that the places chosen for production in the first phase included sites in Peshawar, Chakwal and Jhelum.
The minister said the government was also working on introducing a new project on precision agriculture under which high-technology farms would be developed. Dr Iqbal Chaudhry, director of the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences based at the University of Karachi, said his research institute was chosen by the government to work on the project because it has all the equipment and expertise required for certification and validation of hemp products.
