Bio-chemist Simon Mwaura with an employee at his factory in Maragua on March 22, 2016. [PHOTO/the-star.co.ke]
A bio-chemist has petitioned the National Assembly to make bhang farming legalised in the country.
CEO of Hyaquip Kenya Simon Mwaura wants Parliament to pass laws that allow farmers to grow the crop with the purpose of extracting food supplements from it.
Mwaura wants some 150,000 farmers permitted to plant at least one acre of the crop each.
In his papers where he petitioned Parliament on September 18, he argued that the could be planted at army barracks or national parks, where it could easily be controlled and kept away from the general public.
Mwaura said he successfully deduced food supplements in the crop and that it is highly nutritious does not lead to addiction.
He revealed that the process of extracting the food supplements has been examined by the Food Science department at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) where it was given a clean bill of health.
"A kilo of bhang goes for an average of Sh1,000 and growing the crop has the capacity to improve the lives of the farmers involved and even boost the economy," Mwaura said.
He added that a season of bhang harvesting spans in three months and that the crop takes a minimum of 75 days to mature.