As proposed legislation to decriminalize recreational marijuana use awaits approval from the attorney-general, the Agriculture Ministry recently announced it is classifying medical-grade-cannabis growing as an official farming sector.
The move thereby entitles between 15 and 20 marijuana farmers to government aid, grants, water quotas and training in crop growing.
The ministry noted that the most recent branch to be classified as a farming sector was a decade ago, when the horse sector was recognized.
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Calculations by the ministry show that it costs NIS 1.5 million to set up a 0.1 hectare (a quarter of an acre) cannabis farm, and costs 0.85% of this amount to double the farm’s size to 0.2 hectares, and 0.75% of the amount to increase it to 0.3 hectares.
If the cannabis is sold for NIS 10 per gram, cannabis growing is profitable only when a farmer has at least 0.4 hectares, with the return on such a farm being NIS 380,000 per each tenth of a hectare.
According to projections by the ministry’s experts, the medical cannabis market for Israeli exports will amount to roughly NIS 1 billion-NIS 4b. a year.
