Government has expedited hemp permits for farmers and has issued 1 100 since cannabis was declared an agricultural crop in 2021. However, little attention is being paid to the rest of the value chain, resulting in an abundance of biomass for which there is no market.
“Without feasible offtake agreements, farmers are essentially growing grass,” Shaad Vayej, legal cannabis expert and founder of OpenFarms in Cape Town, Western Cape, told Farmer’s Weekly.
“Government has made the permit application process relatively cheap and easy, which is good news. But there has been little scrutiny in where farmers applying for permits are based. Anything further than 100km from the market is not feasible since transport costs erode profits,” Vayej said.
He added that government’s strategy has been lopsided to date, with too great a focus on increasing farmers, and too little on pairing them with appropriate markets.
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