Kazakhstan hopes to ride high on hemp exports

Cannabis grows all over the country. So we have to decide what to do with it
Eurasianet (US)
Thursday, June 15, 2017

kazakhstan cannabis fieldKazakhstan has decided to profit from its natural cannabis riches and intends to start exporting hemp products to the Netherlands, Russia and China, TengriNews website has reported. TengriNews on June 15 cited the Agriculture Ministry as saying that around six square kilometers of industrial hemp were cultivated in the southern Almaty region this year for that purpose. KazHemp is the only company in Kazakhstan now officially engaged in sowing and harvesting hemp. The company has said it plants to harvest some 600 tons of hemp seeds and 4,000 tons of industrial hemp stems. "The plan is to process the stems into 1,000 tons of fiber at a primary processing plant being built in the Kerbulak district of Almaty region … for further use in the textile industry,” the Agriculture Ministry was cited as saying.