Medigrow’s indoor cannabis cultivation project – located on a 10,000ha property at the Coega Special Economic Zone in Gqeberha – has officially launched.
Source: Medigrow.
Part of the Group’s five-year R1bn investment, the project focuses on processing cannabis into a range of medicinal products and oils. Medigrow’s initial R100m investment will be allocated to establishing the indoor cannabis cultivation facility, as well as setting up cannabidiol (CBD) extraction, packaging, and hemp cigarette manufacturing.
As part of the project, hemp seeds will be distributed to nearly 30 selected rural farmers in the Eastern Cape, who will be properly licensed to legally grow the crop. The harvested cannabis will then be sold to Medigrow’s processing plant, where it will be converted into finished products for export to Europe.
“The investment represents the biggest investment in this subsector in the province and we hope it will act as a catalyst to those investors (locally and internationally) who have identified the province as a strategic location for cannabis investment,” said Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane.
The Eastern Cape government has injected R4m into the project.
Advancing cannabis industry
Medigrow’s focus on medicinal cannabis products and oils aligns with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Cannabis Masterplan, which was revisited in this year’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) and emphasises a regulated, legal cannabis industry.
“We want South Africa to be leading in the commercial production of hemp and cannabis,” Ramaphosa said. “We are improving our logistics network and rural supply chains, and opening new export markets for products.”
Within this framework, Medigrow is helping to build a legal and sustainable market for cannabis, particularly in the medicinal and wellness sectors, which is a crucial part of Ramaphosa’s broader cannabis strategy as outlined in the Cannabis National Masterplan
Driving cannabis growth
The Masterplan aims to position South Africa as a global leader in the cannabis sector, focusing on job creation, economic development, and the establishment of a regulated market for both medicinal and industrial cannabis products.
Medigrow’s project alone is set to create nearly 30,000 job opportunities, while its work with rural farmers in the Eastern Cape for cannabis cultivation complements the Masterplan’s broader initiatives in regions like the Vaal, which is encouraging local engagement and partnerships to cultivate cannabis and the rise of the Vaal Cannabis Capital.
As of 29 April 2024, Medigrow had 14 medicinal cannabis farms across the country.
“It is our belief that in 10 years’ time, medicinal cannabis will be globally accepted as a mainstream medicine that is safer and more effective than many products currently used in Western medicine,” said Medigrow’s chief executive, Edgar Adams. “More and more people are returning to plant-based remedies in favour of harmful single-molecule chemicals. Cannabis is at the forefront of this movement.”
In October 2021, the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development began issuing hemp permits for commercial cultivation, following the declaration of hemp as an agricultural crop under the Plant Improvement Act 53 of 1976.
Whether grown indoors or outdoors, hemp cultivation requires a license from the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) under the Plant Improvement Act, 1976.
