S&T minister says hemp production to fetch $1b market for Pakistan

Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhary said on Wednesday that the local assembling of electric buses would start in Pakistan from next year and revealed that Islamabad would be the first city with the electricity-based public transport.

Addressing a news conference in Islamabad, Fawad Chaudhary said that the federal cabinet had approved industrial and medical use of hemp, adding that sites had been identified in Peshawar, Jhelum, and Chakwal for its cultivation.

“The government is focusing on the electric vehicles and it will bring revolution in the transport sector,” the minister told the press conference. He added that 20 electric cars would be imported in 2020, while the government also planned introducing electric bikes for women.

In addition, the minister said, the latest technology was being promoted to facilitate the farmers across the country. “High technology farms will be developed in order to promote the production of unconventional crops,” he added.

In this regard, the minister said, the federal cabinet had approved the industrial and medical use of hemp. “For the cultivation of hemp, sites have been identified in Peshawar, Jhelum, and Chakwal,” he added. The decision could result in a $1 billion market for Pakistan in the future, he said.

On Tuesday, the minister had said on Twitter that the cabinet had approved the first license for the Science and Technology ministry and the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) for industrial and medical use of hemp.

Chaudhry told the press conference that some people were misinterpreting the cabinet decision. He clarified that the industrial hemp plant contained a compound called cannabidiol, which could "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.”

DNA WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM NEWS DESK