Local hemp products development company Quattro-Canna Holdings has signed a licence agreement with hemp processing equipment developer Canadian Greenfield Technologies to manufacture the HempTrain decorticator plant, which is designed for mass-processing of hemp straw-bales into bast fiber, hurd and green microfiber (GMF), in South Africa.

Quattro-Canna has the sole rights to manufacture and distribute the HempTrain in South Africa for local and regional sales and support.

The HempTrain will be manufactured in Pondoland, near Mthatha, in the Eastern Cape, and service centres will be established throughout the country, says Quattro-Canna Holdings MD Sizwe Nkukwana.

The HempTrain produces high-value bast fibre, hurd and GMF – the raw materials for various downstream industries, including textiles, construction materials, food, animal care, personal hygiene, cosmetics and pharmaceutics.

The HempTrain will also provide opportunities for entrepreneurs to set up facilities throughout South Africa and offer processing services to local farms.

"In order for the hemp industry to grow in South Africa, downstream industry partners need assurance that there will be a reliable supply of quality raw materials that can be easily integrated into their current manufacturing processes with minimal disruptions,” Nkukwana says.

He sees the HempTrain playing an important role in the value chain by ensuring there is sufficient local processing capacity giving farmers assurance that their production will have a market.

Along with the Eastern Cape Rural Development Agency, Quattro-Canna Holdings shares the view that South Africa needs to cultivate 250 000 ha of land to establish the required critical mass to persuade downstream industries to adopt hemp into their manufacturing processes.

This acreage would yield nearly 1.5-million tonnes of biomass, requiring 278 processing plants for the South African market. In the new processing segment of the hemp value chain alone, nearly 3 000 new permanent well-paying jobs could be created, says Nkukwana.

Quattro-Canna is headquartered in Sandton, Gauteng, and is involved in cultivation operations in partnership with Pondoland-based stakeholders who currently hold a hemp research permit and plan to cultivate 1 000 ha in September or October, once the new permits are issued by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development.

Quattro-Canna, in partnership with Crafted Hemp Farms, has established Route 420 Holdings to offer extensive services to emerging hemp farms in the Eastern Cape.

Route 420 will be able to provide seeds, hemp cultivation and harvesting expertise, capital equipment, finance and access to processing capacity with the HempTrain and access to downstream markets, he says.

In a separate statement on July 26, Canadian Greenfield Technologies confirmed it sold a HempTrain Technology & Business License to Quattro-Canna Holdings, which allowed the company to manufacture and distribute HempTrain technology and equipment within their delineated territories.

The $5.35-million royalty-free licence covers South Africa, where the hemp industry initiative is rapidly gaining strength. Canadian Greenfield Technologies will provide technical support to Quattro in establishing the base for growing the HempTrain business.

“We are very excited to enter a large, new market for HempTrain. Our growing success with commercial HempTrain operations, producing unprecedented, high-value, high-volume, and high-demand hemp products, has led to this tremendous opportunity for us to be a part of building the new hemp industry on the African continent,” says Canadian Greenfield Technologies VP Stephen Christensen.