Front-runners in South Africa’s Cannabis Industry, House of Hemp (Pty) Ltd (HoH) was recently granted the 1st medical Cannabis license for the commercial production of medical Cannabis by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (S.A.H.P.R.A.). This is a historical first for South Africa, at a time when the Cannabis industry is exploding across the world and creating thousands of sustainable jobs.
Visionary founder and Executive Chairperson, Dr Thandeka R. Kunene comments: “For us, getting approved to be South Africa’s first licensed commercial producers of medical Cannabis marks the successful completion of a 20-year journey. It is the fulfilment of the vision of being the black Cannabis Industrialist capable of competing on the global stage. HoH has attained this milestone purely on merit, fuelled by our team’s passion plus years of research and demonstrable commitment to this unique, lucrative agro-industry”.
House of Hemp’s state-of-the-art 3ha greenhouse is situated at the Dube Trade Port’s AgriZone precinct, Africa’s first integrated perishables supply chain, and the most technologically advanced future-farming platform that hosts the largest climate-controlled growing area under glass in Africa. The agricultural precinct largely produces high-value vegetables and horticultural products for both domestic and export markets. In addition to glass greenhouses, Dube AgriZone has dedicated post-harvest sorting, packing, and distribution facilities drawing produce from the site and from producers outside the site as well as an indigenous plants nursery and state-of-the-art plant tissue culture laboratory that provides young plants to the agribusiness sector locally and internationally. Due to these facilities, proximity to the airport and high levels of security, it is ideally positioned for House of Hemp medical Cannabis operations.
Founded in 1999, House of Hemp (HoH) has over 20 years’ experience with Industrial Cannabis (hemp) and became the first private company to be awarded a research permit to legally cultivate and process hemp for community research trials in 2009 in South Africa. Successfully meeting all the requirements of the rigorous process of the S.A.H.P.R.A. guidelines for the “CULTIVATION OF CANNABIS AND MANUFACTURE OF CANNABIS-RELATED PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS FOR MEDICINAL AND RESEARCH PURPOSES”, in 2019 is another first and another major milestone on the House of Hemp journey.’’
“We wish to thank all the professional government officials from the various departments we have had to work with over the years to find sustainable development models that use Cannabis to contribute practically to meaningful economic transformation in South Africa. HoH’s current shareholders reflect South Africa’s rainbow nation while retaining black ownership. Successfully commercialising this medical cannabis license will provide seed funding towards HoH’s public-private-partnership program called the “indigenous African Cannabis Incubation (iAfriCanna Inc)”, aimed at ensuring that indigenous knowledge holder communities share in the benefits of commercialising the legal medical cannabis value chain”’ concludes Dr. Kunene, the acknowledged Cannabis Queen of the South.
“House of Hemp’s operations within Dube AgriZone represent an enormous potential to increase international exports of high-value airfreight through the production of medical cannabis, which is well suited within our medical and pharmaceutical sector strategy. The 3ha glass greenhouses the company will be using are ideal for large-scale cultivation and processing of medical cannabis as they provide a climate-controlled environment that ensures year-round production as well as the opportunity to achieve improved yields, together with achieving a consistent quality crop. The project will also create a number of local job opportunities, in addition to ensuring skills transfer & increasing investment in the region. This licence will go a long way in ensuring that the region positions itself well to attract the growing number of local and foreign investors in the medical cannabis sector which has opened up gradually over the past few years.” Notes Mr Hamish Erskine, CEO, Dube Trade Port Special Economic Zone.
