Ramaphosa Highlights Development Of Hemp And Cannabis Industry
It's great to hear about the progress being made in the hemp and cannabis industry in South Africa. President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that since 2022, 83 cannabis licenses, four manufacturing licenses, and 30 research permits have been issued by the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority. The Department of Agriculture, land reform and rural development has also issued 371 hemp permits. This progress has enabled significant investment, employment creation, the application of technology, intellectual property development, and exports to highly competitive global markets.
President Ramaphosa reiterated the government's commitment to unlock investment in the hemp and cannabis sector in his 2023 state of the nation address. He stated that urgent work is being finalized to create an enabling regulatory framework for a whole plant, all legitimate purposes approach for complementary medicines, food, cosmetics, and industrial products aligned to international conventions and best practices.
To support the development of the industry, the government is undertaking several initiatives. Work is being done to develop a competitive strategy to identify where South Africa has a competitive and comparative advantage. A team of financial experts has been appointed to develop a public and private sector blended financing instrument to support investment across the sector. The Industrial Development Corporation has also established a dedicated sector fund supporting investments in the sector.
Given the complexity of the legislative regime for hemp and cannabis cultivation and processing, legal work will be undertaken to understand the longer-term regulatory and legislative reform necessary to enable comprehensive and overarching legislation. The Department of Science and Innovation and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) have undertaken a research map of all tertiary institutions involved in hemp and cannabis research to support the sector's development.
The Department of Small Business Development and the CSIR have launched an incubation program with 30 SMMEs to assist these businesses to develop prototype technologies and intellectual property for product manufacture in the areas of cosmetics, food, complimentary medicines, and African traditional medicines. The CSIR has also bought catalytic equipment, which is being installed at the Ngqura special economic zone to process the primary agricultural product for downstream demand.
The government is also working with several mining companies to explore the potential use of hemp for mine rehabilitation and remediation. Two pilot projects are underway.
Overall, these initiatives demonstrate the South African government's commitment to developing the hemp and cannabis industry and unlocking its potential for investment, employment, and exports.