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Farming MMJ and Hemp in Zimbabwe

Thcvhunter

Well-known member
Veteran
Howdy Folks,

I’m looking at an opportunity with a company in Zimbabwe where we would be farming MMJ and Hemp on 200 Hectares of farmland, also using a bunch of greenhouses and then warehouses for my breeding projects.
The land was a Tobacco farm, so I expect it will need quite a bit of remediation.

Originally, the plan was to operate in Lesotho, but that didn’t work out and now its looking good with Zimbabwe. Which I’m glad for as I didn’t want to operate within SA with LandReform issues there.

The climate looks to be epic.
High-mountain region with good cloud cover and average temps of 70’s, both mild Winters and mild Summers - excellent for terpene production (think Humboldt, NorCal).

This going to be a large step up for me, so I will be reaching out to consultants.

Im excited to be able to direct an operation this large towards being strictly probiotic organic with only the pesticides I approve (microbes and essential oils), especially when all these other multi-million dollar operations will be wasting money trying to remain sanitized and polluting our mother, Earth, with poisonous pesticides and nutes made from industrial and military waste.
 

troutman

Seed Whore
Sadly, that's one recurrent thing about a lot of the large operations.

They mostly think $$$$ returns at the expense of quality and use all kinds of poisons to boost production.
 

Douglas.Curtis

Autistic Diplomat in Training
What did the tobacco farmers use on the land?

Keep in mind cannabis is great at phytoremediation. I would definitely have the soil tested. I recommend (depending on the toxins) looking at growing hemp on the contaminated areas and disposing of it. Possibly some sort of hempcrete project which would contain the toxins away from people/animals/water?

Depending on the type of soil, glyphosate and other pesticides/fungicides can remain for 20 years. Fortunately, most soils have a shorter shelf life. Definitely get it tested. :D
 

dank.frank

ef.yu.se.ka.e.em
ICMag Donor
Veteran
phytotoxicity is a very likely issue.

I'm not sure your previous farming knowledge, but tobacco grows best in sandy soils. I have first hand knowledge in converting these exact type of lands over to organic production models. 500 acres is a lot of land to farm and you'll quickly find that certain things we do in a smaller foot print is NOT possible nor practical in such situations. There is not a direct translation of practices.

You'll have to learn to farm in a whole new manner, without question, using industrial machinery. That means LOTS OF WEIGHT on the land and that means land management practices that you'd otherwise never consider valid become a concern. Such as breaking up hard pan that is several feet down that causes run off and leeching as opposed to being able sequester nutrients within the localized area. You'll find things are unpleasant to your gardening philosophies but necessary things to do, in order to get the land to a state of being able to be cared for properly.

Sounds like a interesting project!



dank.Frank
 

Thcvhunter

Well-known member
Veteran
What did the tobacco farmers use on the land?

Keep in mind cannabis is great at phytoremediation. I would definitely have the soil tested. I recommend (depending on the toxins) looking at growing hemp on the contaminated areas and disposing of it. Possibly some sort of hempcrete project which would contain the toxins away from people/animals/water?

Depending on the type of soil, glyphosate and other pesticides/fungicides can remain for 20 years. Fortunately, most soils have a shorter shelf life. Definitely get it tested. :D

Im not stepping foot on the soil til I see the soil test results for heavy metals and pesticides.
African farming is unregulated and notorious for unmeasured use of nasty chems.

And yes, hemp will be the crop in the fields, canabis in greenhouses, for the same reasons you stated.
 

Thcvhunter

Well-known member
Veteran
phytotoxicity is a very likely issue.

I'm not sure your previous farming knowledge, but tobacco grows best in sandy soils. I have first hand knowledge in converting these exact type of lands over to organic production models. 500 acres is a lot of land to farm and you'll quickly find that certain things we do in a smaller foot print is NOT possible nor practical in such situations. There is not a direct translation of practices.

You'll have to learn to farm in a whole new manner, without question, using industrial machinery. That means LOTS OF WEIGHT on the land and that means land management practices that you'd otherwise never consider valid become a concern. Such as breaking up hard pan that is several feet down that causes run off and leeching as opposed to being able sequester nutrients within the localized area. You'll find things are unpleasant to your gardening philosophies but necessary things to do, in order to get the land to a state of being able to be cared for properly.

Sounds like a interesting project!



dank.Frank

So far, the plan is to auger Xwide by Ydeep holes for plants with amended soil for the first 20 Hectares while just field-planting the rest of the hemp with bio-accumilator plants.
We planned 3 months of work for that.
 

theJointedOne

Active member
Veteran
please do not spray essential oils on your plants in flower

otherwise sounds awesome!

please let us know if you have any questions, and looking forward to seeing what you share
 

Thcvhunter

Well-known member
Veteran
please do not spray essential oils on your plants in flower

otherwise sounds awesome!

please let us know if you have any questions, and looking forward to seeing what you share

Thats not a concern. I only use them up til week 2/3 of flower, worst case scenario.
For my headstash, I have experimented with spraying EO’s up to week 7 of 10 will no problems.
 

Douglas.Curtis

Autistic Diplomat in Training
50% of the population of the world have "up to" average ability to taste and smell. Just putting this out there. :) I agree with the zero essential oils in flower.
 

Thcvhunter

Well-known member
Veteran
Im not into Splitting (Black & White thinking).
Most things exist in a grey area. A tropical sativa wont have resin or pistils for a few weeks into flowering and can be sprayed while hashplants will begin producing resin even in Veg and so there are times even in Veg that plants can’t be sprayed.

So no worries, the resin won’t come in contact with EO’s.
 

Tangwena

Well-known member
Veteran
You do realise Zimbabwe is one of the most corrupt politically unstable countries on the planet.
Good luck I hope you have plenty of friends in the current government and be prepared to have it all taken away with no compensation at all if it shows any money making potential.
I have family there and its not pretty.
 

Elmer Bud

Genotype Sex Worker AKA strain whore
Veteran
G `day T

Are you on site at the moment ?
Got any pix ?

Thanks for sharin

EB .
 

Gypsy Nirvana

Recalcitrant Reprobate -
Administrator
Veteran
Yes - that would be my immediate concern with farming in Zimbabwe - recent history tells us that many farmers have been ejected from their own lands/farms and those lands have never been worked properly since - or at all.

Unless you have VERY good connections in the current government- I wouldn't waste my time.


You do realise Zimbabwe is one of the most corrupt politically unstable countries on the planet.
Good luck I hope you have plenty of friends in the current government and be prepared to have it all taken away with no compensation at all if it shows any money making potential.
I have family there and its not pretty.
 

Tangwena

Well-known member
Veteran
G `day T

Are you on site at the moment ?
Got any pix ?

Thanks for sharin

EB .
Pictures of what my friend? Misery destitution, hopelessness ect those are the main pictures.
Farm houses ruined and overgrown, land once rich in maize and tobacco filled with head high weeds.
Family farms that had been in the same family for generations reduced to worthless land where even if you did sew a crop it would be taken by the government at below cost prices paid for in money that devalues daily.
Not many smiling faces in Zimbawe my friend its dog eat dog just to survive unless your in the government then its luxury all the way at the expense of the starving populace.
Think of slavery and living in hell you would have a close idea of life for the majority.
 

Elmer Bud

Genotype Sex Worker AKA strain whore
Veteran
Pictures of what my friend? Misery destitution, hopelessness ect those are the main pictures.
Farm houses ruined and overgrown, land once rich in maize and tobacco filled with head high weeds.
Family farms that had been in the same family for generations reduced to worthless land where even if you did sew a crop it would be taken by the government at below cost prices paid for in money that devalues daily.
Not many smiling faces in Zimbawe my friend its dog eat dog just to survive unless your in the government then its luxury all the way at the expense of the starving populace.
Think of slavery and living in hell you would have a close idea of life for the majority.

G `day Tang

I`m curious .
Hearing Zimbabwe is better for a white dude to establish a new enterprise got my attention .

I know some Kenyan , Sth African and Rhodesian / Zimbabwe folks . None of them recommend visiting east Africa .
Mostly they just said - Why would you want to go there ?

Thanks for sharin

EB .
 

troutman

Seed Whore
dinner_981925.jpg
 

Tangwena

Well-known member
Veteran
G `day Tang

I`m curious .
Hearing Zimbabwe is better for a white dude to establish a new enterprise got my attention .

I know some Kenyan , Sth African and Rhodesian / Zimbabwe folks . None of them recommend visiting east Africa .
Mostly they just said - Why would you want to go there ?

Thanks for sharin

EB .
So right my friend it could be good if they could just get a stable government but thats not on the cards any time soon.
 

Thcvhunter

Well-known member
Veteran
Howdy, brothers Tang and EB, I miss you guys.

Im not there yet, thats still a few months away.

Zimbabwe law states that for a foreigner to set up a business in Zim, the business must have a majority share owned by a Zim native.
The managing member of the company has the brother to Zimbabwe’s head of Central Intelligence as the native member of the company.
This company is also working very closely with the current President, Mnangagwa, who was the previous Director of Intelligence.

So, pretty well set with the Zim government.
So the other concerns are 1) the locals rising up against the Zim government and killing any white businessmen working woth the current government (me) and 2) China/Communist Intelligence entities.


Perhaps its my naïveté, but I hope to bring empowerment to the people through agriculture.
 
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