Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
It’s a dead end for Hemp
HEMP farmers have shared their battles to get funding while the stigma behind cannabis persists.
Ben Sassman had obtained a hemp cultivation permit from the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development but has been battling for 19 months to get financial support.
In 2021, Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Thoko Didiza announced the opening of the application process for hemp permits.
The legislation provides import and export control. Didiza said at the time it would create 25 000 work opportunities.
Sassman is now seeking funding to realise his hemp farming dream.
He plans to grow hemp on 50 hectares of land in the Free State in addition to procuring hemp biomass from local farmers to supply an extractor plant for the production of CBD isolate
Sassman said he approached the office of the Presidency, the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency and the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
“Over the past 19 months, my partner and I, both coloured entrepreneurs, have tirelessly pursued financial support for our venture,” said Sassman in a letter addressed to the Presidency.
“Regrettably, our efforts have met with consistent setbacks, prompting us to scrutinise the reasons behind these repeated rejections.”
Tebogo Seleme, of Budwise in Johannesburg, has been farming hemp for the past three years after getting a permit. But the road has not been an easy one for him.
He said the stigma around cannabis and its products and a lack of financial support was an ongoing battle.
Seleme was in his 20s when he recognised a market for natural hemp and its products and began growing it and later applied for his permit.
“I have been planting cannabis for some time now,” he said.
Seleme said to change the mindsets of the wider public, they often hosted markets where produce made from the hemp was sold.
His hemp is sold to a local producer who makes products for hair and skin and even cancer treatment.
“There is still a social stigma attached with cannabis,” he said.
“Even with local government, we find that the stigma is also there. But I decided I would grow my hemp. I am self-taught by watching videos and tutorials and it depends on how much seed you have in how much you will produce.”
Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development spokesperson Reggie Ngcobo said its offices only dealt with the permits and not financial support.
“We are a government institution not a funding institution. We cannot speak on behalf of funding institutions,” he said.
The Weekend Argus also approached Vincent Magwenya of the Presidency and Mojalefa Mphapang of the Free State Department of Economic, Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (Destea), who did not respond to queries.
A letter Destea’s head of legal services sent to Sassman said: “Finally, the department also wishes to state that the support it provides to enterprises is not based on any racial profiling as suggested in some of your emails.
“Any suggestion to the contrary is hereby strongly rejected and the department’s rights are fully reserved in this respect.“
A banking institution declined Sassman’s request for funding, saying a hemp permit – without which he could not farm hemp to earn money to repay a loan – was only valid for three years and there was no historical production information to align with norms.