Policy issues of legal cannabis and marula industries discussed at festival

The fourth annual Insangu-Maganu Symposium, Expo and Culinary Festival took place on Friday, May 23.

Cannabis entrepreneurs exhibited a wide range of products, with insangu (cannabis) and maganu (marula) taking centre stage.

Exhibitors and cannabis enthusiasts came out in numbers to showcase their ideas and products.

The symposium aimed to create awareness and build capacity for producers of legal cannabis and marula products – with a focus on cannabis policy issues, opportunities, challenges, markets and synergies – and highlighted the environmental, cultural, medicinal and economic values locked in these plants.

ALSO READ: Security cluster conduct dagga busts in Pienaar schools

Shiba Mashinini, a manufacturer of medicinal and industrial cannabis products, said that the cannabis industry can combat South Africa’s poverty.

“I would like the government to engage with people that are already producing in the cannabis industry. Managing it wouldn’t be difficult if the government simply involved the people who’ve been working with cannabis for years. But current regulations are holding us back from fully benefiting in the industry. We’d like to see the government ease up, so we can be more productive and help create jobs for our communities.”

ALSO READ: Unutilised public buildings in Mpumalanga converted into shelters for GBV victims

The event, the brainchild of the Lisango-Guma Cultural Village in Schagen, was supported by the the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Land and Environmental Affairs, the Small Enterprise Development Agency, and other stakeholders.