Ghana’s Chamber of Cannabis Industry CEO Mark Darko is raising the concerns of the local market in his ‘active engagement’ with the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC), the country’s cannabis regulator.
Ghana last year released its cannabis licensing framework, said to be among the highest fees in the world. The announcement was met with deep disappointment by prospective hemp farmers and raised allegations that the Accra government was favouring multinational interests over those of Ghanaians who were locked out of the sector by the prohibitive pricing.
Darko told Cannabiz Africa that without local involvement, Ghana’s long-term hemp industry would not be sustainable, although he acknowledged that meeting First World standards would be a challenge. Nonetheless, he said he strongly believed
“It is important to note that the current fee structure reflects the regulator’s mandate to ensure a tightly controlled, compliant, and internationally credible framework under the Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020. The objective is to build a system that meets global standards for traceability, security, and quality assurance from the outset” he said
Darko said he would also engage other relevant government institutions “in order to improve accessibility for qualified local participants while preserving regulatory integrity.”
The Chamber of Cannabis Industry Ghana strongly believes there’s a future for smallholder farmers in the emerging industry. The chamber was responding to a query from Cannabiz Africaon the exorbitant licence fees the country’s Parliament unveiled late last year and that have now been declared official. Stakeholders in Ghana have decried the high licence fees regulations, with one describing them as “the highest cannabis fees in the world”.
The chamber’s mandate includes advocacy, training, market intelligence and facilitating networking opportunities.
Darko said his organisation was actively engaging the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC), the country’s cannabis regulator, and other relevant government institutions in order to improve accessibility for qualified local participants while preserving regulatory integrity.
“Our position has consistently been that long-term sustainability of the sector will require structured inclusion models. These may include cooperative schemes, outgrower arrangements, phased licensing categories, and strategic partnerships that allow smaller operators to participate without bearing the full weight of primary license costs individually,” he said.
One of the problems is cost. Darko says investment in compliant infrastructure does not come cheap and local farmers cannot be expected to fund Ghana’s. He says mechanisms will have to be found to fund Ghana’s aim of positioning itself competitively within regulated export markets.
The regulatory architecture Ghana had adopted reflected its own economic, security, and institutional considerations rather than those of the broader market, said Darko, who said that NACOC was the best channel for further reform.
“We remain confident that through continued engagement, the sector can evolve in a way that safeguards standards while gradually broadening participation.”
Speaking to Cannabiz Africa after Ghana’s Parliament released its licence fee structure late last year, Nana Kwaku Agyemang, the head of Ghana’s premier hemp advocacy group, Hempire Association of Ghana (HAG), vowed to appeal the licence regulations saying there were elitist and barred smallholder farmers and the majority from participating.
Ghana’s licence regime has 11 categories and requires an upfront non-refundable application fee of $1 000. Licences for the first tier or entry-level category costs $11 500 to cultivate 0.4 hectares or a single acre. A single hectare would set you back $45 000, in a fee structure that has also drawn attention for its complexity.
This has spawned comparisons with more affordably-priced and conceivably better-structured licence regimes such as Malawi’s and Botswana’s. Only hemp is licensed under Ghana’s cannabis regulations, which sets a THC threshold of 0.3% of cultivated cannabis.
Many cocoa and tobacco growers in Ghana had hoped to transition to cannabis as it is a more lucrative cash crop. Environmental activists and advocates, including Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, the daughter of strongman and former president of Ghana, Jerry Rawlings, have also campaigned for hemp’s adoption in the local economy.
Agyeman-Rawlings, a sitting MP in Ghana’s Parliament, has cited hemp as a superior substitute in mitigating the effects of plastic waste. Adopting it could also boost agricultural production and offset health hazards such as malaria and cholera, caused in part by stagnant water owing to drainage system blockages by plastic waste.
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