A total of 664 hemp and cannabis farmers received permits granting them authorisation to cultivate, store and transport content with a Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) limited to 0.2% by the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD).
The permits, which were handed over at a provincial Cannabis Expo and Conference in October, will allow the farmers access to cutting-edge technology through the Analytical Lab at the Cedara Agricultural Training Institute.
Local business who will be providing services to permit recipients were also granted R300 000 each. Services include processing, erecting tunnels and providing lab equipment, packaging, testing, and finding a market for farmers.
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KZN Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube said the expo and conference marked a “new era for the cannabis sector in the province,”
“Through DARD we have set aside an amount of R47 million for cannabis research. We have allocated R10 million to assist farmers in cannabis production and hemp permit application.
We have facilitated an investment commitment of R120 million and we have participated in the Cannabis and Hemp Phakisa Action Lab in order to secure much-needed policy coherence and to ensure closer collaboration amongst government entities,” she explained.
While pilot projects targeting commercial growers are ongoing, the province has supported several investment leads that were in the process of rolling out district-based capacity building programmes.
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