Paraguay aims for industrial hemp production

Seeds will arrive in Paraguay this week for industrial hemp production. The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) will give support and accompaniment to the small producers.

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Industrial hemp to be a more profitable sector for small farmers

In a meeting with vegetable and horticultural producers of Itapúa, the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Rodolfo Friedmann announced last week that in the next few days, hemp seeds will arrive in Paraguay.

The representative of the agricultural and cattle sector reiterated that industrial hemp production will be a very profitable alternative for the small farmers, who will be able to make more than $1.54 million (₲10 million) per hectare for each harvest.

“The particularity of this item is that two harvests a year can be made and that producers will not have to enter illegal items to have good profits on their own farms,” he said.

“The first batch of seeds has already been imported and will go to the Paraguayan Institute of Agricultural Technology (IPTA). We are going to do some tests in five regions of the country and in March we are going to enter a pre-commercial process, where, depending on how the seeds are adapted, will begin to be introduced into family farming,” he explained.

Industrial hemp will create thousands of job opportunities

The project for industrial hemp production is promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG). The regulations establish a maximum of two hectares per family and estimate that 25,000 families can work in the area by 2020.

“We estimate very important income, more or less $1.54 million (₲10 million) per hectare, per harvest. Hemp can be harvested two times a year, we are talking about an average production, not an optimal production, that is going to change the situation of thousands of families in Paraguay.”

It is worth remembering that in one of his visits to Itapúa this year, the president of the Republic, Mario Abdo Benítez, announced that his Government will promote the cultivation of hemp in the areas where the production of cannabis abounds, in the search of generating an alternative legal way for cannabis cultivation.

The project is set to launch in 2020

In the Department of Itapúa, there are several sectors or points where cannabis cultivation constitutes practically the only and main source of income for the inhabitants.

Cannabis cultivation became one of the big problems in the department, especially in the most remote areas, where the big drug traffickers finance the drug plantation.

The industrial hemp production project in its first stage plans a joint work with the National Anti-Drug Secretariat (Senad).

The possibilities of industrialization point to the production of flour and oil. It is intended to enable only up to two hectares per producer, taking into account that the crop is in high demand in the industrial market and its trade would be assured.

Hemp is a very high adaptive crop, so it doesn’t need extreme caution from producers.

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(Featured image by Terre di Cannabis via Unsplash)

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