The dope dividend
R805 000: HUGE MONETARY VALUE CAN BE DERIVED FROM ONE HECTARE
Government should legislate to promote potential economic opportunities around cannabis, says body.
Plans are afoot to study the plant further and monetise its products. Amanda Watson
Asingle hectare of hemp with average yields under good growing conditions can provide up to R805 000 worth of product.
That’s according to Neil Webster of the Cannabis Industry Development Cooperative of South Africa. “The challenge we are facing is to assist government to develop an enabling legislative framework to ensure the potential economic opportunities are extended to the poor,” he said.
From a single hectare, the association said it was possible to get R50 000 worth of stalk biomass, R18 000 of fibre, R32 000 of hurd, R155 000 worth of seed (oil, shelled seeds and seedcake), and R600 000 worth of cannabidiol. “From these products you can set up factories to provide paper, carpets, textiles, insulation, bio composites, houses, chipboard, animal bedding, fuel, essential fatty acid oils, cosmetics, varnish, tinctures and more,” he said.
It’s now legal to smoke dagga in private, and there is real money to be made. A Reuters report noted in 2014 that the “Netherlands’ famous red-light districts and ‘coffee’ shops selling sex and drugs contribute €2.5 billion a year to the national economy, or slightly more than the country’s consumption of cheese”. Or nearly R43 billion a year in today’s numbers. Forty-three billion rand here would go a long way towards alleviating poverty.
Plans are afoot to explore the plant further and to monetise its almost endless products, which other countries have already done.
“We have already seen the firstround call for proposals from the Medical Control Council for the industrial propagation of medicinal cannabis. From the hundreds of applications over 20 were finalised for the validation that should see the first commercial medicinal cannabis grown in SA in the next year.” The Agricultural Research Council (ARC) noted that because of its classification, it was illegal to handle or cultivate Cannabis sativa L (hemp). Spokesperson Mpho Ramosili said: “But the recent Constitutional Court ruling could significantly alter the regulatory requirements for handling hemp.”
Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies said recently: “The department recognises the potential value to be derived from commercial value chains of cannabis and related products. Thus it has undertaken research to understand, from an industrial policy perspective, the opportunities for SA to become an active player in this market.” –