The ECDA recently found itself at the centre of a ‘storm in a THC cup’ after it distributed hemp seeds on behalf of industrial cannabis processor Medigrow in Mpondoland. The seeds were recalled after opposition from legacy cannabis growers, with many blaming the ECRDA for not managing the situation properly.

But the EDCA says it’s not that simple. In a statement to Cannabiz Africa on 4 March 2025, the ECDA says it is not to blame for the controversy around the introduction of hemp into Mpondoland, as it was carrying out its mandate from the province’s Agriculture Department to support hemp permit holders. It points out that, at the same time, the Agency is committed to finding ways to assist the province’s traditional landrace growers in bringing them into the mainstream economy.

And herein lies the problem. The ECRDA finds itself caught between supporting the Government’s contradictory plans to create an industrial cannabis (hemp) economy in the Eastern Cape on the one hand, while on the other, it has to incorporate legacy farmers and their landraces into a legal cannabis framework that does not yet exist.

The issue came to a head recently over the hemp seed recall issue. Medigrow CEO Edgar Adams met the ECDA and the MBCA to put the company’s perspective and to soothe any jangled nerves. However, the bigger question around the consequences of introducing imported hemp seed into Mpondoland still have to be answered. There has been no environmental impact survey done either on land use or the potential harmful effects of cross-pollination.

In the statement to Cannabiz Africa, ECRDA cannabis specialist, Sunshine Blouw says the agency “has been cognisant of the fact that any legal cannabis economy development in the Eastern Cape should be underpinned by the mainstreaming of the of indigenous cannabis growers in the legal cannabis economy."

But he also points out “the ECRDA mandate is to support hemp cultivation permit holder primary producers in the Province to introduce them in commercial hemp cultivation.”

He says Medigrow stepped in to assist hemp permit holders with offtake agreements, the nature of which were determined by the buyers and not by the farmers.

“Medigrow should be commended for committing to an outgrower program for the primary production of hemp flower in which some of the hemp cultivation permit holder farmers will enter into a commercial offtake with the company” said Blouw.

Core to Medigrow’s investment in Coega to create an industrial hemp hub is the provision of biomass from small-scale farmers in the province. The distribution of seeds to 28 select farmers was meant to be the first step in establishing a network of 30 000 growers to supply Medigrow under the guidance of the ECRDA. But with the MCBA lodging an angry protest that “there will be no hemp in Mpondoland”, the situation has shifted somewhat,

Blouw says the ECRDA agency is operating under constrained circumstances. Although it was instrumental in bringing Mpondoland farmers under one umbrella, the MBCA, with the aim of protecting and marketing landraces, current legislation does not allow it to go further as the sale of recreational cannabis remains prohibited.

Underpinning this all is the structural problem, with three key issues that have not been thought through at the National Cannabis Master Plan level:

1. A hemp development plan that takes into account the environmental consequences of importing genetics and cross-contamination with local landraces;

2. A landrace protection and development strategy that conserves and protects the country’s unique cannabis genetics and legalizes their sale;

3. The elephant in the room: the legalization of a regulated adult-use domestic cannabis market.

International experience has highlighted the danger of cross-pollination between low THC varietals (hemp or industrial cannabis) and high THC strains (medical and recreational cannabis) and international best practice is that cultivation areas of the two should be geographically far apart. However, the NCMP’s Steerco has not begun engaging on this issue.

Blouw says that the row over imported hemp seeds is something of a smoke screen and that Mpondoland genetics are more under threat from imported commercial strains such as Exodus Cheese, which have been increasingly grown in the area over the past decade.

He says that to improve the competitiveness cannabis landrace strains, new markets need to be developed based on the cannabinoid profiles and user demand. Most importantly, local landraces need to be registered as commercial seeds.

Meanwhile the controversy over introducing hemp into Mpondoland is not going to go away soon. Medigrow has committed millions to developing an industrial cannabis hub at Coega, and word from the hills around Mansanene is that Mpondoland farmers are a gritty lot who are not going to back down on their resistance to hemp.

Blouw says that while working with Medigrow, the ECRDA is committed to working with MCBA members as well, and, to this end, the Agency:

• has signed a MoU with the local Research Councils to commence with the registration of landrace seeds for commercial purposes; 

• is collaborating with the Science Council on product improvement of cannabis-based complementary medicines developed by local indigenous knowledge holders; 

• is looking for solutions to use biomass straw waste for other possible value-add manufactured products, for example, construction and building panels. 

In short, Government has created an unworkable cannabis development strategy for the Eastern Cape, making it “Mission Impossible” for the ECRDA, to do its job properly. The Agency will be hampered in fulfilling its various cannabis mandates until the debate between high- and low-THC levels are resolved at a higher policy level.

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