South Africa’s black farmers fight to enter marijuana market
HENNOPS, South Africa — Stacks of bright green cannabis plants, freshly harvested from nearby hothouses, are expertly sorted on a lab table by workers wearing hygienic gloves and caps who snip the leaves and buds and put them in bins for further processing.
Druid’s Garden in Hennops, about 20 miles north of Johannesburg, is a licensed farm that conducts research, and legally produces cannabis and other traditional medicinal products for sale in South Africa and international markets.
The farm’s founder, Cian McClelland, said one of his aims is to help smaller-scale, black farmers enter South Africa’s potentially lucrative marijuana market.
“One of the most important aspects of this industry is for us to find ways to uplift small farmers, particularly black rural farmers,” McClelland said.
McClelland knows that rural black farmers, who have grown marijuana traditionally but illegally, are now fighting to benefit from the country’s relaxation of cannabis laws.
Following the Constitutional Court’s decision in 2018 to decriminalize the personal use and cultivation of cannabis, South Africa’s cannabis industry could be worth more than $23 billion by 2023, according to a recent report by the data collection agency Prohibition Partners.
However, there are concerns on the ground that black farmers who have been working for decades in what has been an illegal industry may miss out on the potential boom.
Many smaller growers cannot afford to get the licenses needed to grow marijuana for medicinal and research purposes.
The stringent requirements include getting police clearances, registering a specified plot size, erecting high-tech security fencing, getting irrigation systems and setting up agreements with overseas buyers, among others. The cost of...