SOUTH AFRICA PLANS TO GROW HEMP TO HELP FARMERS

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa plans to grow hemp commercially
to help impoverished rural people even though the plant is illegal, a
provincial agriculture minister said Wednesday.

The Eastern Cape province has been granted a special license to start
growing hemp, which is forbidden in the rest of the country because it
falls under legislation governing marijuana.

The province's agriculture minister, Max Mamase, said a small pilot
project of four sites totaling about 10 acres of hemp had proved its
viability.

``Hemp is ideal for the Eastern Cape given the levels of poverty there
and the level of subsistence agriculture. If we bring in hemp it will
change the method of production on communal farms,'' Mamase told Reuters.

Speaking on the sidelines of an agri-business conference near
Johannesburg, Mamase said he expected hemp to be legalized within
three years. The national departments of agriculture, health and
environmental affairs are working on new legislation.

Marijuana, which looks nearly identical to hemp, is widely grown in
South Africa's rural areas and provides many families in remote areas
an important additional income.