ASPIRATIONS for the hemp and cannabis industry in South Africa creating up to 130 000 jobs, as stated by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his recent State of the Nation address, are possible but are being hindered by red tape around permits and licences in the face of available export markets, industry players said this week.
There is also strong consensus that development of the industry should, to a large extent, include indigenous growers who have been farming with the crop illegally for years and have a wealth of experience, which would, in turn, spread the economic benefits of the crop to grass-root levels.
Ramaphosa said the World Health Organization estimated that South Africa was the third-largest illegal cannabis producer in the world, with around 2500 tons produced every year.
Cannabis entrepreneur Vanessa Jarvis Findlay who runs a CBD (cannabidiol) dispensary in Clarens, a tourist town in the eastern Free State, holds the view that indigenous people and the cannabis community of South Africa can assist in creating a viable and sustainable policy in the best interests of good health.
“The industry should not be dictated to by foreign influence and what they want us to grow,” she said this week.
“Instead, we should focus on our indigenous communities and landraces – our biggest assets for investment and sustainability. South Africa has some of the best cannabis landraces in the world and is a gold mine for investors to develop and export.”
Also this week, the Department of Agriculture Land Reform and Rural Development said that although the hemp application process fell under its ambit, the North West Department of Agriculture and Rural Development had selected a technical team meant to assist farmers in the area with the application process.
Desbo Mohono, the MEC for Agriculture in the North West, encouraged farmers to seize the opportunity and apply for hemp permits in order to reap the economic opportunities in the industry, as part of the hemp permit process.
The process stems from a Cabinet decision taken in 2019 to have a plan for industrialisation and commercialisation of cannabis in order to increase economic growth, create jobs and poverty alleviation.
The decision was trailed by an establishment of a committee to guide the development of a cannabis masterplan.
“The legalisation and commercialisation of Cannabis Sativa (Cannabis) has been at the forefront of public debate and on top of the agenda of policymakers globally,” Mohono said.
“As a role player, the North West organised a webinar last year to engage stakeholders in a collaborative effort to advance the cannabis masterplan implementation process.
"In that webinar, we learnt that only a few farmers had permits and at the time of our engagement, their permits had expired. I know we have very passionate farmers in the province and I urge them to follow the process and to apply for hemp permits.”
Although the masterplan was still a work in progress, the industrialisation of hemp had been identified as a low-hanging fruit in terms of the establishment of a cannabis industry in the country, the department said.
But the Richards Bay Industrial Development Zone (RBIDZ) pointed out this week that red tape had squandered some of the opportunities entrepreneurs had of producing and exporting product to the international market.
Spokesperson Sibusiso Ndlovu said the RBIDZ was on the verge of withdrawing an offer made to a local entrepreneur it had pre-approved for a parcel of land, water and infrastructure to establish the business after the business could not secure the necessary documentation.
“The permits are costing us investors, we are considering withdrawing the project,” Ndlovu said.
Zazi Dladla, an aspiring grower who had secured a market for hemp and cannabis products in the UK and the Netherlands, said that being sent from pillar to post since 2020 had put his ambitions in jeopardy.
Dladla said the RBIDZ had been helpful with amenities and the Industrial Development Corporation had also shown a strong interest in helping with funding.
However, the snag was with the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority, which had not issued the necessary documents in two years of strenuous effort.
“It becomes an issue of the chicken and the egg: those willing to help require these permits and so do the off-takers of the produce who want authentic legitimate enterprises to work with, so you just end up stuck in between,” Dladla said.
He cited Rwanda as one of the countries that had a one-stop shop for facilitating investment where the entrepreneur felt valued because they received immediate assistance.
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