By Paul Nyathi|The government has suspended the licencing of mbanje farming after it received an overwhelming response to calls for licencing of prospective farmers.

Deputy Finance Minister Terence Mukupe revealed on Monday that the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe, the regulating body, received over three hundred applicants for the licencing when its target is less than ten farmers.

Due to the overwhelming response government had decided to temporarily suspend the licencing to give time to streamlining of the licencing process.

“The response was unexpectedly too high which has invoked government to back track in the process and sit down to come up with regulations on how the licences will be awarded and the farming regulated,” said Mukupe.

“The applications were very varied with some applying to farm ten thousand hectares while others were asking for just two hectares which then calls for stringent regulations on the licencing and regulating of the farming,” he said.

Government recently legalised the farming of the drug for purposes of the production of medicines and not direct consumption.

Statutes were immediately released and set the licencing fees at $50 000 which government thought was going to be deterrent.

The Ministry Of Finance expects to rake in billions of foreign currency in the exports of the drug once the farming begins.

Commenting on the matter, former opposition MDC-T Member of Parliament Thandeko Zinti Mkandla condemned government for rushing the process without sitting to complete all the regulations around the legalisation of the farming.

“Government should have taken its time to first consider all the regulations around the farming before calling for applications,” he said.

Mkandla however went further to castigate the government for failing to run the country to the extent of finding desperate measures to raise foreign currency to run the country.

“The country has a lot of minerals that can be mined in order to raise foreign currency than stoop so low as to put the country’s hopes on mbanje farming,” he said.