Co-founder of the South African Cannabis and Hemp Development Association (SACHIDA), Cian McLelland, in conversation with Cannabiz Africa publisher, Brett Hilton-Barber.
BHB: What is the significance of the amended PIA for the SA hemp industry?
CM: The amended regulations under the Plant Improvement Act — particularly the move to a 2% THC threshold — are significant and very welcome.
It will open the domestic market, reduce crop losses, and make compliance much easier for our farmers. But it also comes with an important reality check: almost no international market accepts hemp above 0.3% THC, and most regions remain at 0.2%. Switzerland is 1%, but I’m not aware of any country aligned with South Africa at 2%.
That means most of the material grown under our new limit will not be eligible for export in raw form. In a way, that forces us — positively — to finally build the local value-add industry properly. For years South Africa has been stuck in a colonial pattern of exporting raw materials; this shift creates an opportunity to change that.
Yes, in the short term we still need to export some raw material while the local sector catches up, but long-term the focus must be on local processing, manufacturing, and product development.
At the same time, we need to caution growers: just because a crop is compliant at 2% doesn’t mean an off-taker will accept it. Farmers must ensure the varieties they plant align with the requirements of the buyers they’re targeting.
So, while we applaud the move to 2%, we also recognize that it comes with responsibilities — and it should ultimately stimulate real local industry growth rather than another cycle of exporting unprocessed plant material.
BHB: Does the Act help overcome the seed challenges that growers have experienced?
CM: The amended Plant Improvement framework is absolutely essential – it’s what finally treats hemp like a real agricultural crop, with proper rules for seed quality, variety registration and certification.
On paper, it allows South Africans to research, breed, produce and trade hemp seed legally, and the Hemp Certification Scheme is supposed to give us a robust, sustainable seed system.
But the law is only a skeleton. In practice we still have very few registered local varieties, persistent seed shortages, and almost no protection for our landraces against pollen contamination from regular hemp seed.
The Act gives government the tools to fix these problems; it hasn’t yet guaranteed that they will be fixed. That will depend on how quickly and inclusively DALRRD and ARC move to support local breeders, list more varieties, and design a seed system that works for both commercial farmers and traditional growers.
BHB: Is there any estimation of expected hemp production for 2026?
CM: There’s really no reliable estimate for what South Africa will produce in hemp in 2026, simply because we have no visibility into how many permit holders are actually planting.
That information is tightly guarded by the departments involved, often citing the POPI Act, which makes it almost impossible for industry bodies to assess national production capacity. As SACHIDA and through our member organisations, we support hundreds of community-based farmers, yet most of them have been unable to plant at all.
They lack access to seed, and they lack access to bankable off-take agreements. Earlier this year, one of our members, the Agricultural Hemp Consortium SA (AHCSA), secured a major international off-take agreement, specifically to open the door for rural and especially black smallholder farmers. But despite the noise and lip service from various state organs about supporting these farmers, only two farms have actually received funding.
Without capital to buy seed, install basic infrastructure, and cover operational costs, these farmers simply cannot produce — even though the off-take is secured. Meanwhile, international buyers have been waiting for South African hemp flower, grain, and fibre for years, and are now openly expressing frustration.
Some are already shifting their attention to South America and Asia because they feel South Africa is not serious about getting its hemp industry off the ground.
BHB: Has government got a provincial hemp ‘zoning’ plan as to geographically where hemp cultivation should be concentrated in SA?
CM: No
BHB: What hemp varietals appear to be best suited to SA conditions?
CM: That’s actually a very complex question, because South Africa isn’t one uniform agricultural zone — we have radically different climates, soils, rainfall patterns and altitudes across the country.
You cannot say that one hemp varietal will perform best everywhere. Each region needs proper agro-ecological analysis to understand what genetics are suited to its specific conditions. And this is exactly why landrace cannabis is so important.
Our landrace varieties have been naturally acclimatised over centuries to the environments they grow in. They carry a broad, ancient genetic base that is incredibly adaptable and offers a strong foundation for breeding plants tailored to local purposes — whether fibre, grain, or other industrial applications.
Rather than assuming that imported genetics or newly created varieties will automatically work, South Africa should be investing in understanding and utilising the landrace genetics that are already perfectly adapted to our own landscapes.”
BHB: Any other specific points you would like to raise or highlight ?
CM: One point we really want to highlight is the urgent need for genuine government support for community-based projects. For years, government has asked us to bring off-take agreements and to secure technical partners who can mentor and assist rural farmers.
Through SACHIDA’s membership, we’ve done exactly that. We have bankable off-takes, we have experienced technical partners, and we have structured programmes to bring community farmers into the value chain — from cultivation to processing to product development — in a way that allows them to truly participate and benefit.
Yet the actual support from government has been painfully slow across the cannabis and hemp sectors. Regulatory processes have dragged, funding has been incredibly limited, and implementation has simply not matched the political rhetoric.
It’s difficult to understand why industries like textiles, automotive, dairy or beef receive extensive state backing, while hemp — which the President himself repeatedly cites as a future job creator — receives so little in practical terms.
Very few projects have been funded, and very few communities have been enabled to participate meaningfully. We absolutely recognise that this is a new industry, that data is limited, and that government must be cautious with public funds.
But SACHIDA has highly competent, credible members capable of building an equitable, sustainable hemp industry model that can genuinely catalyse socio-economic development, particularly in deeply impoverished rural areas.
What’s missing is not vision — it’s decisive action, and the level of support that matches what government itself says this sector can become.”
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