City Tycoon Sudhir Ruaparelia Writes To Museveni Over Marijuana Growing

Posted by: lukwago J in Uganda news November 9, 2020

Property Mogul Dr. Sudhir has written to President Yoweri Museveni to allow local companies start growing Marijuana for exports. Sudhir says growing of Marijuana has great medical benefits and export value.

“While we are not attempting to compare Uganda with any other country, as we are a unique and independent country, it is also a market reality that the global medical marijuana market, estimated to reach between USD40 billion and USD45 billion by 2025, is not unlimited. The early birds will certainly catch the most and possibly the biggest worms. Like in the case of Madagascar and vanilla elaborated above, will hold onto this advantage for many years to come. Those that will come on the next wave, will have to play second-fiddle. They will be hoping and praying for some storms of some kind so they can gain some short-lived windfalls”. Sudhir said in a statement.

Sudhir’s strong arguments;

Sudhir says with Covid-19 in our faces, it’s imperative not to rely on traditional sources of income. For example in Uganda, tourism, Uganda’s largest forex earner is on its knees. It is not expected to recover fully until 2030 and beyond- and this presupposes a vaccine is discovered sooner than later.

“Your Excellency, if there is one lesson we should pick from the Covid-19 crisis is the need to not only add value (like you have always emphasized to especially the bazzukulu), but even more importantly the need to diversify. Value addition and diversification are important because, truth be said, some markets for some of our agriculture products are over saturated. Even with value-addition, we can only go far, because we do not have much competitive advantage.

That is why we believe Uganda has a real opportunity to establish both a competitive and a fast-mover advantage in the medical marijuana for export business- we have the right climate and more arable land than most, if not all our neighbours combined. If we miss this opportunity, we may probably never catch up, “Sudhir said.

He explained that Medical Marijuana is a whole new industry, a game-changer. Global Research firm Nielsen predicts that by 2025, sales of all legalized cannabis in the U.S. alone will reach $41 billion. Medical marijuana for export will not only create new revenue streams for the country, but it will also spur many other local value-addition sectors and thousands of jobs.

“Your Excellency, the private sector has been ready since 2018 and we believe that now, more than ever, there are all reasons to fast-track legislation on medical marijuana production, to give Uganda competitive edge,” Sudhir noted.

Uganda’s production capacity;

Ruparelia Group is one of the largest commercial agriculture players that controls over 40% of the cut flowers export market, registered Premier Hemp Limited in July 2018.

“We are ready and willing to leverage our expertise in commercial agriculture to grow this golden crop on a large and for-export-only scale. But we are not alone, 20 other companies have applied for licenses. This is as provided for under Section 11 (1) of The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 2016 and are waiting for clearance and written consent of the Minister of Health.

Will there be challenges and mistakes along the way? Yes, like any other new industry, there will be very many challenges, but as you rightly told Uganda on June 08th 2017, during the reading of the 2017/18 budget: “Failing is part of success. Therefore we shall learn from our mistakes, and keep trying until we succeed, ” he stressed.

According to ministry of trade, about 90 companies both local and foreign have applied to the Government for licences to allow them to grow marijuana on commercial scale.

Sources revealed that a number of high-profile meetings have been going on recently, involving multiple government agencies led by the health ministry, to discuss the licences.

What the health ministry says;

According to the health minister, Jane Ruth Aceng, government is yet to progress to the stage of granting operational permits for entities to grow and process marijuana for medical export.

“The Government, through the health ministry, is still in the early stages of carrying out consultations on this nascent area to understand the economic benefits of cannabis, its medical value based on scientifically proven evidence, including the challenges of regulation so that we can formulate a way forward,” Aceng wrote in a letter to some of the companies that had applied last month.

In recent years, the United States and countries around the globe have legalized medical marijuana. Several states in the U.S. have gone further and decriminalized the recreational use of cannabis. Growers and distributors of cannabis in the U.S. and Canada have been capitalizing on the growing cannabis industry. Doors have also been opening for companies based in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) countries like Jamaica, Colombia and Uruguay.

What the WHO says;

According to, World Health Organization, 80 percent of the world’s population uses marijuana for medicinal remedies. People know Latin American and Caribbean countries for their expansive farms and high levels of agricultural exports. Cannabis companies can leverage these existing production and distribution channels to their benefit. Ideal climate conditions coupled with increasing investment flows have positioned South America and the Caribbean for explosive growth. Some estimate the industry to grow to $55.8 billion by 2025.

In 2015, Jamaica became one of the first countries to decriminalize marijuana. Jamaicans can possess up to two ounces of marijuana. A license to grow marijuana costs $300 and allows citizens to cultivate five cannabis plants.

The government is taking proactive steps to capitalize on the growing number of countries legalizing the use of marijuana. It is doing this by supporting local companies and universities in their research and production.

Facts about marijuana

Marijuana is one of the fastest growing industries on the planet. Legal weed sales have more than tripled between 2014 and 2018. They’re on track to roughly quadruple between the $10.9 billion generated in licensed cannabis stores in 2018. It is projected to gain $40.6 billion in worldwide licensed store sales by 2024. That’s according to the 2019 “State of the Legal Cannabis Markets” report. Arc view Market Research and BDS Analytics released the report earlier this year.

Yet, what you might find intriguing about this rapid growth is that it’ll wind up being attributed to just a select few countries. More than three dozen countries around the world have legalized medical marijuana. Five countries are forecast by Arcview and BDS to account for $38.2 billion of this aforementioned $40.6 billion. Note, licensed-store sales doesn’t include general retailers selling cannabidiol (CBD) products, or cannabinoid-based drug developers selling pot-derived pharmaceuticals.

As should be no surprise, the U.S. projects as the leading marijuana market in the world by sales in 2024. In fact, the $30.1 billion in licensed-store revenue should comprise almost three-quarters of global licensed sales. According to Arcview and BDS, $9 billion of these sales are expected to come from the medical side. This is up from $4 billion in 2018, with the remaining $21.1 billion derived from recreational marijuana.

vanilla experience

Uganda experienced Vanilla madness in 2002-2005 when Ugandan farmers got rich overnight in Mukono and Masaka; those good old but short-lived days when vanilla almost became like gold.

For those who are not aware, this sudden vanilla fortune was driven by two occurrences. Thousands of kilometres away, in Madagascar, one of the world’s largest producers of vanilla. The island nation was struck by two successive cyclones in one month. Tropical Cyclone Kesiny in May 2002 (Northern Madagascar) and Tropical Cyclone Manou in the South East.

Global vanilla markets reacted swiftly. Uganda overnight went from nearly a zero exporter of vanilla to earning USD7.8 million in 2002 and USD11.5 million in 2003. Farmers and traders, became millionaires overnight.

Well, we do not know when the next cyclone will come for Vanilla farmers to enjoy yet another rich season. One lesson we can learn from the above is the power of being a first mover. A first-mover advantage is simply defined as the ability to beat competition as a result of being the first to go to market with a new product category.

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