After 6 years when Uttarakhand became the first state to allow cultivation of large-scale industrial hemp (cannabis sativa, which has low intoxication capacity and is used mainly for medicinal and industrial purposes), it has succeeded in making the first prototype of "standardised industrial hemp".
Reena Joshi, district magistrate of Bageshwar
( Kumaon Region), said that after five months of efforts, farmers in the border district have managed to grow industrial hemp with less than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the permissible limit set down by international laws and state parameters. "The Bageshwar district administration funded the project and the agriculture department closely guided the four farmers who were given license to cultivate industrial hemp on around 0.5-acre land here.
Once the crop was grown, they were found to have less than 0.3% THC and thus qualified," Joshi said. On Wednesday, a felicitation programme was organised for the farmers.
In the year 2018, a pilot project for industrial cultivation of cannabis was started in Uttarakhand by the then Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, under which an MoU of Rs 1100 crore was signed between the Indian Industrial Hemp Association and the Government of Uttarakhand, in which the next five years During the period, investments were made in the fields of cannabis cultivation, storage, transportation and processing etc.
By doing industrial cultivation of cannabis, along with almost three times increase in the income of farmers, many other benefits can be obtained, such as
CBD oil made from hemp is used to make soaps, shampoos and medicines.
Apart from this, paper, ropes, decorative items and biodegradable hemp plastic are made from hemp.