Popular tech investor, Victor Asemota has advocated that Africans need to look into the building capacity in the area of the processing of cannabis as a means of foreign exchange earner for the continent.
According to him, Cannabis is a cash crop and can be a huge means of foreign exchange if the continent looks into establishing it as a viable business with processing capacity at the heart of it.
Tweeting via his official Twitter handle he said, ”Cannabis is a cash crop and unlike cocoa and others, we should learn to bring processing to Africa early so that we can capture most of the value. If not, it will become another flawed extraction process. This is where we will need tech most. It is not by websites but processing.
”We have to also invest in crop research and genetics. We need botanists, biotech specialists, and food scientists. Cannabis has the potential to bring truly high tech to many places in Africa as we process for export markets.
He says NIFOR and RRI in Edo state both produced species of palm and rubber that Malaysia and others now profit from. Nigeria and Africa at large must not make the same mistake but deliberatly build and tap into the potential of commercial cultivation of cannabis.
”We will have our own institute for researching Cannabis but will not make the same mistakes with Oil Palm, Rubber, and especially Cocoa,” he concludes.
