AUNTONY MUKHWANAZI: Cannabis industry can help reignite SA economy

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The creation of a sustainable cannabis industry is one of the interventions that can help revive the South African economy, writes Auntony Mukhwanazi.

The negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our economy can be reversed if government, business and society work collectively to establish a sustainable cannabis industry as one of the interventions.

Moreover, the country is blessed with cannabis greenbelts in Stellenbosch in the Western Cape, the Pondoland in Eastern Cape, Bergville in KwaZulu Natal and other areas in Mpumalanga and Limpopo. There are literally thousands of hectares of arable land across the rest of the country that is suitable to grow cannabis.

A thousand hectares of land requires a minimum of 7,000 farm workers to plant, grow and harvest cannabis. Based on a job creation multiplier of three, this implies that a minimum of 21,000 direct and indirect jobs can be created just on cultivation only. Very quickly a target of 500,000 jobs per annum can be attainable on cultivation alone.

Cannabis is the green gold that requires implementation of a thorough and properly coordinated strategy by all stakeholders in the arena of economic development. Development funding institutions such as DBSA and the IDC have the opportunity to provide seed capital funding that can be a catalyst for mobilisation.

 

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