Strain Library

Malawi

Malawi Gold

Also called Malawi, Malawi Landrace, Malawian, Malawi Gold Landrace, Chamba

Malawi Gold is the seed-trade name for cannabis from Malawi, where it is called chamba. The geographer Chris Duvall says cannabis reached eastern Africa about a thousand years ago and spread along trade routes from around 1500. Nkhotakota District on the central lakeshore is commonly cited as a major growing area, and by 2001 regional press already used the name 'Malawi gold'. A seed-trade magazine says unnamed seed hunters passed through in the 1970s and 1980s, but the documented trail from farm to seed bank is thin. The Strain Hunters team of Green House Seed Company reportedly made a collecting trip around 2008. Malawi introduced licensed, regulated cultivation in 2020.

Region
Central lakeshore, Nkhotakota District
How sure we are
Mixed. Malawi's cannabis economy is reported by reputable outlets, but the route from Malawian farms to Western seed banks rests on unsourced magazine and seed-bank lore.
Keep in mind
Seed lines sold as Malawi Gold are modern collections or selections and may differ greatly from the cannabis grown in Malawi today.

Timeline

  1. c. 1000-1500 Cannabis reaches eastern Africa roughly a thousand years ago and, from about 1500, spreads across the continent along trade routes, according to geographer Chris Duvall. Source
  2. 1970s-1980s (industry lore) A magazine profile says seed hunters passed through Malawi in these decades, but names none and admits the documented lineage is thin. Source
  3. 2001 IRIN reports that Malawian cannabis, called 'Malawi gold', is in regional demand, that some families have switched from maize to cannabis, and that police plan a large crop-destruction operation. Source
  4. c. 2008 The Strain Hunters team reportedly makes its first expedition to Malawi, according to a seed-trade magazine. Source
  5. February 2020 Malawi introduces licensed, regulated cannabis cultivation and processing. Source

Sources

  1. The Paper (2022), interview with geographer Chris Duvall, 'Cannabis and Africa'
  2. IRIN / The New Humanitarian (2001), Malawi cannabis crackdown report
  3. Africanews (2022), Malawi looks to cannabis for profits amid declining tobacco demand
  4. VICE (2017), Alice McCool on Malawi's hemp legalisation push
  5. Wikipedia, Cannabis in Malawi (encyclopedia)
  6. Fat Nugs Magazine, Bud Backstories: Malawi Gold (seed-trade magazine; industry lore)

All landrace strainsThe cannabis timeline

Written from the sources above. Informational only, not medical advice.