The Western Cape Minister of Agriculture’s unveiling of the department’s Western Cape Cannabis Framework and Implementation Plan (CanPlan) is expected boost the momentum of the industry’s already blooming enterprise.
The CanPlan provides guidelines for establishing cannabis (medicinal cannabis) and hemp in the Western Cape and highlighted the signifiance of the Cape Wineland’s role in the industry’s national development.
By introduction, Minister Meyer said: “The CanPlan, which is aligned with the key objectives of the National Cannabis Master Plan, should contribute to economic development, job creation, rural development and poverty alleviation.”
According to the Western Cape Department of Agriculture’s Head, Dr Mogale Sebopetsa, the CanPlan identifies several agriculture-led initiatives.
Sebopetsa added that agriculture-led initiatives include establishing industry stakeholder coordination and information sharing. “The CanPlan further encourages collaborative research/ trials on suitable varieties, extension and production support services.”
Its aim is: . the mainstreaming of legacy and informal producers and agri-processors, . promotion of cannabis/hemp as a rotation crop as part of improved environmental/ regenerative practices, and . evaluating measures to protect and promote unique Western Cape hemp and cannabis characteristics.
He pointed out that initiatives where other provincial role players could take the lead in providing a foundation for change, are also included in the plan.
The CanPlan highlights that the potential size of the Cannabis industry in South Africa is estimated at R28 billion, possibly creating about 10 000 to 25 000 jobs across the value chain.
Meyer said that the development, growth and success of the cannabis industry requires a value chain approach to ensure that the Western Cape benefits from this booming industry.
“The industry has the potential to absorb all skills levels, including low, semi and skilled labour,” he said. “Tapping into this will contribute to growing our rural economy and creating jobs, which is this government’s key priority.”
Cannabis and hemp production
Meyer, in addition, released the CanPlan Literature Review professing to the department’s knowledge of this growing landscape, also featuring the Cape Wineland’s role in the booming expansion of South Africa’s cannabis industry.
In terms of its overview of growing conditions for cannabis and hemp, it is only natural that it holds different growing requirements, and that the requirements of different cultivars may also vary.
Says the literature: “Cannabis for medicinal use is typically grown in highly controlled conditions (typically indoors), in a cultivation medium or hydroponically rather than in soil, with clones and exactly measured inputs of water, nutrients, temperature, humidity, light etc. to provide a standardised output.
“Flower can be ready for harvesting in 120 to 150 days from seed. Hemp is typically grown as a field crop, from seed, with plant spacing up to 50 to 200 plants per square metre, depending on the cultivar and end use. It is possible to grow hemp organically and with biological pest control, and with hand harvesting. Production for fibre can be ready for harvesting in 90 days, and for seed typically in 120 days.”
In terms of hemp permits, the latest publicly available information is that there are now 11 permits across the Western Cape, out of a total of 300 permits nationally. These permits are spread throughout the Western Cape.
“Traditional primary production of cannabis in the Western Cape is not at the scale of those provinces with a long history of small farmers such as Pondoland in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, where it is estimated that there are around 900 000 small-scale growers.”
In the Western Cape, however, traditional communities do nevertheless grow for own-use and subsistence in all areas of the province, with the West Coast, towns throughout the Cape Winelands and the Southern Cape being the best-known areas for the production of lower grade dagga for the mass adult use market.
“Other growers have found a market through the private cannabis club system and growing (often illegal) is happening throughout the province, mostly under controlled conditions and concentrated around the bigger metros.”
Commercial growing and growing for research purposes by licensed companies and public research institutions has started, and is locally championed by Mike Mangena’s cultivation research in the Drakenstein Municipality.
For more information, full version copies of the CanPlan Implementation Plan can be read at:
www.elsenburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/W.Cape-CanPlan-Final-report-8-March2023.pdf
Or read the full literature review of the CanPlan and all relative research with regard to the South African cannabis industry in the local landscape by visiting:
www.elsenburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/W.Cape-CanPlan-literature-review.pdf
