With a temperate climate, majestic waterfalls and a plethora of playful monkeys, the Kingdom of Swaziland may seem like paradise on earth, but Swaziland has the highest HIV infection rate in the world and only one doctor for every 6,000 people.
Under King Mswati III, the last despot in sub-Saharan Africa, citizens of Swaziland are taunted by the king’s $200 million bank account and numerous palaces occupied by his 15 wives. Even though more than two-thirds of the population lives below the poverty line, King Mswati still taxes Swaziland farmers on the meager income they earn from their crops. However, one harvest is still exempt because it was never approved.
‘Swazi Gold’ is a pure sativa strain that is said to take six months to mature and can grow to over ten feet tall. The plants are also said to be completely free of the cannabinoid CBD, but Hamilton wanted to test it out for himself. So he started collecting samples…for “analysis”. Contrary to popular images of cannabis growers as junkies and hippies, growers in Swaziland are overwhelmingly inexperienced grandmothers who grow cannabis purely out of economic necessity.
With the country in financial crisis and its former pulp and mining industries depleting Swaziland’s last natural resources, Dr Ben Dlamini has some remaining solutions to attract foreign investment and save the country from economic collapse. But the market is no longer dominated by the six-month-old native Swazi gold, which now demands fast-growing hybrids imported from Europe.
Africa produces more cannabis than any other continent in the world, and despite its small size, Swaziland has more hectares devoted to cannabis cultivation than all of India. One of the interesting things about Swaziland cannabis growers is that they never profit from their stash. Farmers report that the iron-rich soil is ideal for growing hemp without the use of synthetic fertilizers.
