How legalised hemp cultivation can boost farm income in hills and elsewhere

First licence to legally grow hemp on a pilot basis was issued recently after almost 33 years; talks are on among state govts of MP, Himachal and Jharkhand to legalise cultivation for industrial use

Can a crop give as much as 600 per cent return on investment in this country? That might sound completely out of place, especially as the prices of almost all farm commodities have crashed in the past few years.

But, that may indeed become a reality, if industry players are to be believed. The cultivation of hemp (cannabis sativa) with low psychoactive component tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) (less than 0.3 per cent), purely for industrial purposes, might be on the cards.

Cannabis used as a drug and that for the industrial purpose are both derived from the same cannabis sativa species. But