The Himachal Pradesh government has decided to explore the industrial possibilities with hemp, a variety of cannabis, to produce yarn for making clothing and accessories like scarfs, slippers, wallets and bags. Annual state-wide drives to destroy the cannabis plants haven’t discouraged the farmers from cultivating them. Therefore, the Himachal Pradesh agriculture department has drawn a project to create economic benefits for farmers who use hemp to make textiles, which is otherwise used for extracting charas. "We have formulated a pilot project on the analogy of Uttarakhand government that had set up hemp textiles industries," said agriculture minister Ram Lal Markanda.