Red tape stifling earlier high hopes of cannabis industry
Foreign companies and a switch to hemp help bedevil local industry
Without a huge drive to beneficiate cannabis at source, the Eastern Cape’s Mpondoland farmers will go out of business.
And this at a time when international and local companies are scrambling for expensive extraction and farming licences, enabling them to make a killing in medicinal and export markets.
This is according Gavin Tessendorf, owner of ProCan, which launched cannabis CBD pastels earlier this month in Gauteng, using expensive extract imported from Canada.
Tessendorf has also been involved with Mpondoland’s “green gold” for more than 15 years.
“I was raised in Port St Johns and knew several cannabis farmers, back in the day when growing it meant jail time,” he said.
“But it was their only source of revenue, and the detection risk was fairly low.
“Now that it is semi-legal, recreational consumers grow it themselves, which has decimated sales.
“Mpondoland is the province’s most prolific cannabis-growing region, producing a plant that achieved international renown when it was illegal.
“Sadly, now that it is legal, cannabis farmers are starving, the crop is left lying in the fields. The new and huge financial barriers to entry have crippled growers.
“Licences are reserved for Spanish, American, Israeli and Canadian companies, among others, plus the local ones.”
Chuma Velani, CEO of Magwa and Majola Tea Estates in Lusikisiki, said the estate had diversified its product range, maximising beneficiation opportunities.
Cannabis was an obvious target because it was the Transkei’s biggest cash crop.
They made a sound start setting up the equipment to process the cannabis crop close to the growing areas, providing a product with the right level of purity for all uses.
However, farmers are being coerced by companies to abandon the Mpondoland “dagga” and instead sow hemp, which has several industrial uses, including a concrete substitute, bricks, clothing material and multipurpose fibre.
Velani said farmers were unhappy with the switch, because establishing a new product took time, while cannabis was tried and tested, there was a strong, albeit illegal, market and progress with medical uses of the extract had international appeal.
A combination of red tape, high licence costs and “bureaucratic meddling” had forced many illiterate farmers to abandon their historical homes.
But Tessendorf says the solution for Mpondoland is very easy.
“Simplify the extraction process (removing the cannabidiol or CBD, from the plants).
“Involve the headmen because they control most of the farms in the area. Allow the Eastern Cape department of agriculture to assist and educate farmers.
“Then, instead of overseas companies handling the extraction, let the farmers and downstream SA companies do it.
“Set up several first-stage processing and extraction plants close to the farms. Export, or use the product locally, and keep the money in Mpondoland.”
He asked why there was so much red tape around the growing, harvesting and initial extraction.
“The argument goes around purity, mainly for extracts used in the medical industry. But not every product needs to be analysed to the nth degree.
“Extraction at source, which we are pushing for, must be monitored, because it can be dangerous. But as long as the purity level is fit for purpose, then let’s get it started.”
In fact Tessendorf and business associate Jakes Jacobs have already started. Jacobs said he had developed the range of fruit-flavoured pastels with pure CBD.
“It’s not a medicine or drug, but tests show that it reduces stress and anxiety, and that leads to the relief of a host of other stress-related problems, from insomnia to high blood pressure.
“I must stress that CBD is not THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis, which makes people high.
“My business is natural fruit juices and ice lollies. I experimented with fresh-fruit reductions in the extract, then used them for pastel gums, which we call Sky-Walker.
“After several months I perfected the sweets. The next tasks were design, taste testing, mainly with friends, and packaging.”
ProCan launched the product in Gauteng earlier this month.
“The result was well ahead of any expectations. We sold out in most of the outlets. The challenge now is to ramp up production,” Tessendorf said.
One of the irritating problems, he said, was that Sky-Walker did nothing for local farmers, because ProCan had to source its expensive extract from Canada.
“We need to push the Eastern Cape government to get involved. It has the power to keep farmers in their fields and out of poverty traps.”
Licences are reserved for Spanish, American, Israeli and Canadian companies, plus the local ones