Hemp cultivation awaits licensing board

Last Updated on Monday, 5 August 2024, 22:29 by Writer

More than one year after Guyana passed the Industrial Hemp Act, players in the infant sector are hopeful that a licensing board would soon be appointed to regulate the industry and make way for large-scale commercial cultivation.

The Industrial Hemp Bill was approved by the National Assembly on August 8, 2022 and signed into law on September 11, 2022.

High-level government officials did not immediately respond to questions about when the Board would be appointed.

Amid concerns in some quarters that hemp cultivations could be used as a cover for growing marijuana, Guyana Hemp Association (GHA) Secretary, Cort Gomes said his association had recommended that 60 to 80 percent of the licence fee is provided to the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) to fund their operations in the hemp sector. “They can use that fee to come and do whatever inspection at any given time, at their leisure, to make sure you say it is what you say it is so that’s one sure way we want to deter planters from going down that route,” he said.

While the absence of the licensing board has held up cultivation of the plant, which is related to marijuana, industry stakeholders are forging ahead with their sensitisation and awareness efforts. One of the four organisations, the GHA, last Saturday and Sunday held a two-day hemp exposition in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica).

Mr Gomes said Guyanese are becoming increasingly aware about the various uses of hemp and assisting them to differentiate between hemp and marijuana. “We’ve been turning the wheel, so to speak, and sensitising the people that this is something totally different; even though it’s a cousin, it’s something totally different and we’ve been showcasing the benefits of this particular plant and what it can do,” he said on Main Street, Georgetown, where the first Region Four Expo was held. Touting hemp as “the old oil” that would be here long after oil and gas have been extracted, he said the hemp industry could generate thousands of jobs, and financial and economic benefits.

Asked why hemp was not being cultivated, the GHA Secretary said, “one word and one word only: licence”. “To plant hemp, you have to have a licence and to have this licence, the government has to put together a licensing board which is in process,” he said. Mr Gomes said his association was “very optimistic.” He acknowledged the importance of both the government and the hemp sector to be patient and handled “delicately”. What we don’t want is for the government to rush or the sector to rush or for us all to rush into this and it’s done wrong and then we’ll have a failing hemp industry,” he said.

The GHA official said a pilot project was being planned to focus on the right type of seeds, weather and soil, marketing the hemp industry and acquiring financing.