CANNABIS AND
HEMP DEVELOPMENT
CANNABIS AND
HEMP DEVELOPMENT
WHAT IS ON OFFER?
The ECRDA is working closely with the Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform (DRDAR) and other partners to establish a massive and thriving cannabis industry in the Eastern Cape.
Given the competitive advantage of the Eastern Cape in cannabis, the ambition is to develop and grow a cannabis industry that will be underpinned by primary producers cultivating 100 000 hectares of the plant in the province over the next twelve to fifteen years. The province has identified cannabis as a priority project and it has delegated responsibility to the ECRDA to co-lead the establishment and implementation of the project in the Eastern Cape.
A further benefit for the province is that the farming knowledge of the plant exists. There are farmers who farm cannabis although there exists no provision for the legal cultivation of the plant.
Currently, there is a provision for the cultivation of cannabis in the privacy of a person’s home. In the medium-term, over the next twelve to fifteen years the Eastern Cape has identified five cannabis production corridors for development. These cannabis corridors are earmarked to produce food, fuel, fibre and medicine from the plant. The cannabis industry development programme estimates that at the maturity stage of the industry in the province, a total of 50 000 cannabis farmers will be created who will be farming on two hectares each. This should bring production volumes to the envisaged 100 000 hectares.
50,000 cannabis
farmers will be
created over the
next 12 years
WHAT IS BEING DONE?
Two incubators will be established in the western and eastern parts of the province. On the eastern side, the Magwa Enterprise Tea has been identified as an incubator site.
On the western side, the incubator site has been identified as Dohne at the Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform research facility close to Stutterheim.
The eastern side of the province has been identified for the production of cannabis for medical and industrial use and the west for industrial cannabis. Currently, the only available route to market is medical cannabis. It is hoped that government will unlock policy for industrial applications of cannabis in the 2021/22 financial year. The preferred production focus is on the eastern side of the province because of existing production and recreational use.
However, the ECRDA is promoting an inclusive strategy which is intent on formalising the informal cannabis market in the Wild Coast belt which should result in immediate access to market for recreational use which would allow government to monitor, regulate and tax it.
On the west of the province, the incubator will provide access to formalised cultivation sites for farmers and to cultivation standards at a fully licenced facility. There is also a potential for satellite growers and for the industrial processing of cannabis flowers.
The ECRDA is planning to establish cooperatives for cannabis production in order to open up access for people to enter the space especially for subsistence farmers and rural communities.
GET IN TOUCH WITH US
Get in touch with the ECRDA if you would like to participate or invest the development of the cannabis and hemp industry in the Eastern Cape.
Head Office
Waverley Office Park,
2nd Floor, Chiselhurst,
East London, 5201
Head Office
3-33 Phillip Frame Road,
Waverley Office Park,
2nd Floor, Chiselhurst,
East London, 5201
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