Farmers and agripreneurs, here’s your chance to be part of Gauteng’s cannabis industrialisation programme. The province is moving ahead with its plans to commercialise cannabis production and invites interested parties to submit their proposals.
According to Gauteng MEC for economic development, agriculture and rural development, Parks Tau, the objective of the programme is to unlock economic opportunities and job creation through cultivation and processing of hemp and cannabis at industrial scale.
“We are calling for proposals from potential partners that could come on board and identify different parts of the value chain in which they can participate,” he told the SABC.
“Many people have already been engaging with us and this is now the official process in which they can participate.”
Are you interested?
Potential partners may submit proposals which align with the following industrial focal points:
- Funding and capitalisation mechanisms for cannabis cultivation, processing, and distribution.
- Exchange, trading, and aggregation platforms for both domestic and export markets, including certification and quality assurance partnerships proposals.
- Aggregation schemes for cultivation and processing linked to quantifiable and verifiable addressable markets for cannabis and hemp products. Such aggregation schemes must include and enable surrounding communities as value chain partners.
- Cannabis-driven carbon reduction and bioremediation programme including rehabilitation of compromised mine lands rehabilitation.
Furthermore, the support instruments that can form the basis of the partnership proposal include, but are not limited to:
- Leases on state-owned or state-controlled land assets.
- Tenancy in special economic zones or state-owned industrial parks or subsidised tenancy in private industrial facilities.
- Financing partnerships to deploy wholesale capital or other appropriate instruments via Gauteng Enterprise Propeller (GEP) and development finance institutions in partnerships with the province.
- Collaborative funding of key input and administrative costs of proposed partnerships.
- Structured collaboration with other organs of state to manage regulatory or other barriers to cannabis industrialisation for specific projects.
To find out what the requirements are, visit the Gauteng province website. Alternatively, contact Anthony Moloto on Anthony.moloto@gauteng.gov.za or call him on 011 240 2684, or 083 408 5493.
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