 |
| Thobekile Zulu shows an all-in-one bucket with everything a home grower needs to grow a plant from a feminised Holy Smoke seed. |
Krithi Thaver, who is a founding member of the Cannabis Development Community of SA (CDCSA), told Weekend Witness that Durban’s first CannaCon differs from the glitzy conferences already held in Jo’burg and Cape Town in that the focus is on enabling informal growers.
“We have everything from tunnels to fertilisers here, as well as all the end products, from teas to creams, even hemp sandals,” Thaver said.
Over 40 exhibitors are displaying their wares on the sports grounds.
Thobekile Zulu showed an all-in-one bucket with everything a home grower needs to grow a plant from a feminised Holy Smoke seed, with prices starting at R350.
Pietermaritzburg-based Tunnel Quip displayed their tunnels, which start at R6 325.
Prashika Naidu displayed her flavours of Cannabis Energy Drinks, which she said are the latest base for cocktails in the Johannesburg club scene, but not yet big in Durban.
 |
| Prashika Naidu displayed her flavours of Cannabis Energy Drinks, which she said is the latest base for cocktails in the Johannesburg club scene. |
Today sees South Africa’s “cannabis queen”, Dr Thandeka Kunene speak about commercial cultivation, while the Deputy Director-General of KZN’s Agriculture Department Kuben Moodley will be giving clarity on how South Africa’s belated policies are shaping up to exploit hemp.
One of Mzansi’s most arrested dagga preachers, Sheldon Cramer AKA Booby Greenhash, told Weekend Witness he hoped for two statements from government: First to call off the cops from harassing growers, and second to separate industrial hemp from cannabis.
“On one side we [the CDCSA] are meeting with Health and Agriculture to help shape policy, and on the other our phones are tapped and laboratory staff held and interrogated for hours.”
The business opportunities for cannabis oils and fibre are huge. In Uganda, Kampala-based Industrial Hemp Ltd on Wednesday announced it will work with Israeli company Together Pharma Ltd to deliver CBD oils to pharmacies in Germany and Canada for a total of €145 million (over R2,3 billion) using hemp grown on a farm in the Kasese District in Western Uganda.
“Our holy grail for the development council is to exploit the 50 000-plus uses for industrial hemp with emerging farmers. We can literally grow our own fuel,” said Thaver.
The conference and exhibitions run from 10 am until 10 pm tonight and from 10 am to 5 pm tomorrow. The entry fee is R150 per person, and no under 18s.
For this money, people will get access to latest indoor and outdoor growing methods, and the tools of the trade, said Andrew Loubser of Slingshot productions.
He warned smokers that in keeping with SA’s colonial era ban on possession of any part of the dagga plant still in place, there will be no dagga sold on site, only hemp products.
(First published in Weekend Witness.)
