According to João Nascimento, the company started work three years ago and expects, as of the first quarter of 2022, to start working in a factory in Vila Real de Santo António that will later allow the plant to be transformed for the production of oils and cannabis preparations for medicinal purposes.

After three years dedicated to bureaucracy and the construction of basic infrastructure, the company obtained a license in August this year and began to cultivate the cannabis plant in the municipality of Faro, said the executive director of Cannprisma.

"We are fine-tuning our cultivation process and our goal is, by the end of this year, to start selling to the foreign market," he said, adding that in 2022 the company will start "production" in the factory.

"Next year, our forecast is that we will have the capacity to reach 20 tonnes per year and our invoicing forecast will be around €30 to €50 million per year".

Currently, the company has around 50 employees, but the goal is to be able to reach 300 when the process is completed, he stressed.

Asked about choosing the Algarve to install the plant's cultivation and treatment unit, João Nascimento replied that the region is “a great place to live”, but also has “excellent conditions” for “the cannabis plant”.

Among the advantages are "good weather conditions" and "number of hours of sunshine per year", a characteristic that is "very important" because it "directly affects the quantity of production" and "the quality of the flower itself", he considered.