Ghana has an ambitious deadline of clearing land for the planting of its first hemp seed this quarter, amid efforts to make up for lost time following protracted haggling over legislation.

Up to 30,000 acres were set to be cleared to plant hemp seed, said Nana Kwaku Agyemang, CEO of the aptly named Hempire Association of Ghana (HAG), which advocates for the decriminalization of industrial hemp and medicinal cannabis in the country as well as the mainstreaming of a hemp economy.

It has been a tortuous road for Ghana to get to this point. Legalisation was enacted in March 2020 with the passing of the Narcotics Control Commission 2020 (Act 1019), with presidential assent following two months later. It then took three long years for the Legal Instrument (LI) to be published.

Act 1019 empowers the Minister of Interior to authorize the cultivation of cannabis for industrial and medicinal purposes but forbids recreational use, although cannabis is known to be illegally grown widely in the country, amid suggestions that legalizing cultivation will formalize a huge black market.

Granted, Agyemang has expressed frustration over lost time, which is understandable as time is money, particularly when Ghana and fellow African countries have pinned their hopes on cannabis to earn foreign currency for cash-strapped economies. “The export potential looks good. We want more off-takers. Exports drive our economies in terms of earning foreign or hard currency,” he says.

Agyemang is a vociferous advocate for a coordinated African cannabis strategy and encourages African countries in the cannabis market to export. He recently told a Cheeba Academy webinar, Africa Rise, that a setup comparable to that of the oil grouping OPEC could stop the perennial exploitation of raw materials from the continent that has robbed it of prosperity.

He idealises about a common African monetary market for the same reason.

The scarcity of financial resources would make an initial concentration on the raw product practicable with beneficiation coming into play as a priority later on, notes Agyemang.

Thus far, a few potential foreign investors have taken note of the potential in Ghana’s hemp industry including Aura of Canada. Locally, the commercial arm of HAG, the Hempire Agric Ghana Ltd, otherwise known as Hemp Agric Ghana, will be a principal investor.

Ghana’s background leading up to legalization makes necessary a campaign to win hearts and minds; a disinformation campaign helped derail the legalization process for many months.

HAG’s CEO Agyemang hopes the distinction between THC cannabis and industrial hemp is articulated more clearly among the population to avoid the stigmatization of hemp. He has hinted at collaboration with the Johannesburg-based cannabis school Cheeba Academy and a potential partnership with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to help channel a knowledge economy.

Despite the legislative greenlighting, licensing has reportedly been slow with obvious implications for commercialization timelines. 

A new CEO and director-general were due to be appointed to the Narcotics Control Commission while the composition of a Constitutional and Legal Committee to determine fees and charges was also due to be finalised.

Local observers think hemp can make up for lost cocoa production following disruption to farming by illegal mining prospectors, with some farmers expressing hope that hemp might be that one crop to change their fortunes for the better as it fetches proportionately higher on the market.

Meanwhile, 300 farmer groups in some of the country’s 16 regions wait in the wings to get actively involved in industrial hemp cultivation. Once the allocated acreage is cleared and licensing sorted out, Ghana can look forward to supplying both raw materials and the finished product to the market consistently, with automotive, construction, food & beverage, hempcrete, personal care and textile hemp products expected to lead the charge into the processed goods market.