Aerial view taken on September 19, 2018 shows farmers with their specially developed harvesting machines cropping a cannabis field in Naundorf, eastern Germany. The Mariplant company, a subsidiary of Canadian producer Maricann, cultivates the legal medical cannabis on around 170 hectares to gain the cannabidiol substance. Picture: AFP PHOTO
There has been a lot of huffing and puffing about the Constitutional Court ruling that dagga may now be used legally in private. The drug has still not been legalised … but there are some enticing possibilities if that does happen.
If cannabis is made legal, then it has the potential, as a crop, to provide a shot in the arm to the South African economy and make a dent in the poverty which is this country’s most pressing problem.
Pro-legalisation lobbyists claim that one single hectare planted to cannabis can provide up to R850 000 worth of different products, from the cannabidiol active ingredient to seed, oils, fibre and stalk biomass.
The crop also does not require much in the way of skill or supporting chemicals to grow. So it is ideally suited to exploitation by small-scale farmers, or even backyard growers.
Properly regulated, cannabis farming could produce billions of rands annually for poorer communities and for the government, through taxes.
The country would also save billions in policing and prosecution costs currently associated with dagga.
A developing country like SA, with pressing socioeconomic needs, must consider all avenues to uplift its people. And the growing of dagga in controlled conditions might be just such an opportunity.
For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.
