Despite the growing popularity of the ganja industry, with big business benefitting from grassroots- led initiatives like 4/20 celebrations, a regional group of ganja growers says traditional stakeholders continue to be sidelined.

The Caribbean Fairtrade Cannabis Group (CFCG) will be observing 4/20 day by participating in a series of activities aimed around advocacy, particularly as it calls on regional bodies, like Caricom, to place greater importance on the inclusion of the traditional/legacy cannabis farmers as the industry continues to develop.

In providing a snapshot of the development of the industry across the region, CFCG said that while most countries had made the shift from prohibition to decriminalisation, most, if not all, have tended to favour big business over traditional growers.

Citing Jamaica as an example, the group noted that it was distressing that real efforts for the inclusion of traditional cannabis growers have not manifested.

The group noted that in St Lucia, as well as Barbados, traditional growers continue to appeal to the policymakers to ensure that the cannabis regulations and framework being developed are inclusive, and that the framework will support the sustainable livelihood of the farmers, and their communities.

While lauding the recent announcement by Jamaica’s Investment, Industry and Commerce Minister Aubyn Hill, to suspend fees for small traditional farmers for a two-year period, the group stressed that other regulatory reforms were urgently needed.

The CFCG is calling for more pointed efforts to support traditional growers, similar to recent developments in St Vincent and the Grenadines where lands have been specifically allocated to traditional farmers for the purpose of growing.

The regional group, which was formed in 2018, wants the industry’s development to be given the highest priority on Caricom’s agenda, further calling for a regionally driven cannabis policy framework which has at its core, social justice and indigenous rights of the Caribbean people.