Legalisation is killing our market, say small-scale dagga growers

“I’m worried that now everyone will be able to plant their own dagga in their own homes, so we won’t be able to make money from selling what we are growing here”
GroundUp (South Africa)
Friday, October 4, 2019

No one knows with confidence how many small-scale cannabis farmers there are in South Africa, but the number is large: one organisation estimates 900,000. Millions of people probably depend on income from cannabis. In Pondoland, these growers have been cultivating the plant for over 200 years, with most of their harvest in more contemporary times bound for Cape Town townships and taxi ranks, as well as other South African cities. Pondoland is among South Africa’s least economically developed regions, and dagga is the only cash crop in a subsistence economy. There have been a number of failed efforts to eradicate the plant from the area.