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Dr. K'adamawe Knife and Dr. Chris Stokes
By Kimone Witter
There is a call for the government to pump more resources into the ganja industry to offset some of the costs for small farmers.
Dr. K'adamawe Knife, Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship Thinking and Practice at UWI Mona, says small farmers wanting to enter the legal trade are deterred by the high cost to meet regulatory requirements.
Speaking Monday on TVJ's Smile Jamaica, Dr. Knife said this should be the focus of the discussion which has erupted over the ganja shipment from Canada.
He said a framework is needed to facilitate the legal exportation of ganja which accommodates farmers.
Citing the US$10,000 cost for farmers seeking to legally enter the ganja industry in Jamaica, Dr. Knife argued that the high price to meet the regulatory requirements is the issue.
He suggested that not many small farmers can afford to pay that amount, contending that the price is exorbitant.
Dr. Knife questioned why the Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA) would charge that much, reasoning that it could be because the entity does not get enough financial support from the government to run its operation.
"So what you have done is to transform the CLA and other institutions into hustling institutions because they are now charging fees to generate funding to cover a number of expenses," he asserted.
Since ganja is one of the things that attracts tourists to Jamaica, Dr. Knife has suggested that funds can be transferred from the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) to help support the CLA so it can reduce some of its fees.
Development economist Dr. Chris Stokes, who was speaking Sunday on Radio Jamaica's That's a Rap, said the government should be also encouraging local farmers to grow more ganja strains that are in demand, so that Jamaica can broaden its market.
His suggestion follows the revelation that the recent importation of ganja from Canada was due to some varieties required by the Jamaican company not being available locally.
The government revealed last week that the company imported about six or seven strains that were not available in Jamaica.
The Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce is to host a media briefing at 3:00 p.m. Monday to discuss the importation of cannabis into Jamaica.
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