{"id":49693,"date":"2020-01-28T20:01:13","date_gmt":"2020-01-28T20:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/take-note-us-jamaica-is-helping-indigenous-farmers-enter-the-weed-game\/"},"modified":"2020-01-28T20:01:13","modified_gmt":"2020-01-28T20:01:13","slug":"take-note-us-jamaica-is-helping-indigenous-farmers-enter-the-weed-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/take-note-us-jamaica-is-helping-indigenous-farmers-enter-the-weed-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Take Note, US: Jamaica Is Helping Indigenous Farmers Enter the Weed Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jamaican cannabis regulators have just unveiled a new plan that they hope will help indigenous farmers transition<\/u><\/a> from black market weed growers to fully-legal medical marijuana cultivators.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the Jamaican government announced plans to expand the country’s Alternative Development Programme, which was created to provide local farmers with the technical and financial support necessary to enter the legal medical marijuana industry. This expanded program will create a new licensing system that waives licensing fees and reduces start-up costs for farmers who wish to grow weed legally.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we will be doing in 2020, is looking for more community groups of traditional growers that we will engage and provide the technical support for them to transition into the medicinal marijuana industry,\u201d said Floyd Green, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture, and Fisheries, according to <\/u>Cannabis Wire<\/em><\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

A pilot for the new program has already shown some success. Last year, the government spent almost $100,000 to assist weed farmers in Accompong, a village on the east end of Jamaica, populated by descendants of Africans who escaped slavery in the 16th century. These farmers, working out of a communal site, have already produced around 20 kilograms of legal flower for the country\u2019s medical marijuana market.<\/p>\n

Illegal cannabis production remains a major enforcement issue for Jamaican authorities, who estimate that around 37,000 acres of black market weed is grown annually. The new program aims to give these farmers \u2014 many of whom do not have the capital to kickstart their own business \u2014 a chance to enter the legal weed industry without having to find investors. If the program is a success, these newly-legal weed farms will be able to boost the country’s supply of legal flower, which would be tracked by the government’s seed-to-sale program.<\/p>\n