Vast white greenhouses sit high up on the slopes of Lesotho's Marakabei town, hidden from view. It's not fruit or vegetables, however, growing under the 18 plastic covers, but thousands of cannabis plants.
The cannabis is grown legally by the Lesotho-based company Medigrow and is regulated by the government. "We have three rows that contain 1,200 plants each. That's 3,600 plants across the whole structure," said Medigrow's head of production Albert Theron, gazing proudly over the crop.
In 2017, the tiny landlocked kingdom of 2.1 million people decided to tap into the booming medical marijuana industry, becoming the first country in Africa to allow the cultivation of cannabis for medicinal purposes.
In order to meet legal standards, most traces of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) -- the main psychoactive constituent responsible for marijuana's intoxicating effects -- are removed from the seeds.
The remaining medical version is primarily made of the non-psychoactive substance, cannabidiol (CBD), and can only be 0.03 percent THC.
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