Cheeba Africa’s CEO, Trenton Birch, introduced the webinar saying the hemp-based food sector seemed to offer one of the better niches for cannabis entrepreneurs to look at.

He hosted a panel of experts on 1 October 2024 to discuss the subject, Food as Hemp. The panelists were:

• Clara Norell SHI - Svensk Hampaindustri AB (Sweden)

• Tony Budden Founder Hemporium (South Africa)

• Dr Zorodzai J.T Maroveke Founder Zimbabwe Hemp Trust (Zimbabwe)

• Cian Mcclelland CEO Druids Garden (South Africa)

There was broad agreement among the panelists that hemp seed as food for humans and feed and bedding for animals were areas of economic opportunity higher up the value chain than farming.

5 Quick Hemp Facts

• Nutrient-Dense: rich in protien, omega 3 and omega 6, fibre and minerals

• Complete Protein: contains all nine amino acids

• Heart-Healthy: Produces good cholesterol and reduces inflammation

• Easily Digestible: Hemp protein is easily absorbed by the body

• THC-Free: Contains minimal THC with no psycho-active effects

Hemp as a Super-food

Cian McClelland said Druid’s Garden was involved in a project with the CSIR to develop a human ‘super-food’ for primary school children. He said that the project had been running for 18 months and preliminary results were “mind-blowing”.

However, he said the project had not yet succeeded in registering human and animal superfoods with the Department of Health so that such products could not yet be sold commercially. “Licensing is a big issue. Right now it is not possible in South Africa to license Novel foods that contain hemp”.

“This is crazy” he said. “I mean, you can walk into a branch of Dischem and buy hemp seeds, which is what we are using as the basis of our super-food.”

McClelland said hemp was not only nutritious and protein-rich, but contained all the right amino acids that were building blocks for brain development and reacted with the human endocannabinoid system to balance the body.

He said that given the issues of poverty in rural areas and the reliance of schools on government feeding schemes, authorities needed to urgently revisit the inhibitors that were preventing the use of hemp porridge for kids.

“We are in danger of cultivating a nation of imbeciles unless we give them the proper protein that they need”.

McClelland said he believed the stigma around cannabis was the main reason the Department of Health was so reluctant to engage positively. “They are not yet confident enough in the fact that people who consume hemp-based products are not going to get high”.

Ingegrating Hemp into Cultural Cuisine

Dr Zorodzai Maroveke said that in Zimbabwe cannabis stigma did not appear to be a problem with government officials who by and large had bought into the benefits of industrial cannabis.

“But the stigma is still there in the public” she said. “Education is going to be the key in getting consumer acceptance and until then pushing hemp as a foodstuff will continue to be difficult”

“In Zimbabwe there’s also the issue of palleability” said Dr Maroveke. “Hemp is not a traditional grain that people are used to, and the original flavour was an acquired taste and not to everyone’s liking. She said in trials, the Trust had disguised the taste with honey and cinnamon in making hemp milk, and this had proved popular.

McClelland said that “to develop this industry, demand has to drive production”. 

One of the ways of driving demand is to make hemp-based foods more culturally appropriate" he said. "We have done in tests at Druids Garden where we have mixed  our hemp porridge with a traditional Tswana and Venda dish called ‘ting’ which is basically fermented sorghum, which in itself is nutritious. Because this is already well-entrenched in the community, it makes sense to incorporate hemp into an established traditional dish.

“Hemp porridge is a very good idea” said Dr Maroveke.

She said that innovation was critical in developing new hemp-based cuisines and that entrepreneurs had to work with dieticians and nutritionists to develop ‘product for the people’.

There are different types of people, said Dr Maroveke: there is the “common African” who would prefer a basic grain and then you have a ‘luxury’ grain that will appeal to wealthier people.

“You’ve got to work out who you are going to sell to and how you are going to do that. Hemp seeds in salads is not going to work in the rural areas” she said.

Dr Maroveke said there had to be appropriate hemp technology for rural areas. She said hemp milk, for instance, would be beyond the capacity of poor rural people to produce, but there could be cheaper technology “some sort of grinder, like they use in peanut butter” for people to process their hemp in some way.

She said the challenge was how to develop hemp foodstuff to scale, get acceptance from traditional communities and integrate it in a way that made it easier for people to accept”.

Imports Make Hemp Products Expensive

Tony Budden of Hemporium, who’s such an industry veteran that he’s known to be ‘half hemp half human’, said: “We need to have the price point conversation”. He pointed out that South Africa’s reliance on hemp product imports made them too pricey for the local market.

“You’ll be paying up to R125 for a 250 gm packet of hemp seeds, making it one of the most expensive protein food products out there. You can only get hemp milk onto the market for about R100 a litre while hemp seed oil is currently twice the price of cooking oil”.

He said in order for the hemp industry to properly develop, it had to “get beyond” imports.

Budden said that not everybody wanting to get into the hemp industry had to be a farmer. "There are opportunities for those who want to create brands and recipes. To get into this business you don’t ever have to have touched a plant in your life, but you have to focus on your area of specialisation" he said.

Clara Norell of Sweden said research in her country had shown how widely hemp could be used, often as a substitute for less-healthy foods: “It can be used in different was instead of eggs, mayonnaise, bread, flour, milk, and you can even make ice-cream and beer from hemp”.

“By changing food you can change people. The way they eat affects the way they think” she said. “That’s why I’d like to see hemp mince replace soy mince in all feeding schemes to help those brains and bodies grow”.

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