Federation of International Hemp Organizations to Hold First General Meeting Next Month

The newly-formed Federation of International Hemp Organizations (FIHO) is set to hold its first annual general meeting next month in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, BusinessCann reports. The organization included 14 hemp groups from around the world. 

Ahead of the inaugural meeting, the FIHO says it envisions a 2,000% increase in hemp’s global footprint over the next decade. New figures released by the organization suggest that the crop’s global cultivation footprint amounted to 94,694 hectares in 1999 and the expected total would reach 228,000 hectares worldwide this year. 

Communications Officer Lorenzo Silva, president of the Latin American Industrial Hemp Association, told BusinessCann that “Hemp has tremendous potential for growth in the coming years.”  

“The crop is very well aligned with most of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals and presents enormous potential for carbon sequestration projects due to its fast and vigorous growth in the field, therefore it is very attractive for most of the agro-industrial projects being funded globally nowadays, and that will receive funding and tax incentives in the near future.” — Silva to BusinessCann 

The 14 groups that comprise the FIHO are: 

• Australian Industrial Hemp Alliance 
• Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance 
• China Hemp Association  
• European Industrial Hemp Association 
• Indian Industrial Hemp Association  
• Latin American Industrial Hemp Association  
• National Industrial Hemp Council of America  
• American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp  
• Kentucky Hemp Association  
• Texas Hemp Growers Association  
• Uttarakhand Hemp Association  
• Hokkaido Industrial Hemp Association  
• Mongolian Hemp Association  
• New Zealand Hemp Industry Association  

Lorenza Romanese, managing director of the European Industrial Hemp Association told BusinessCann that the group aims “to advance the global production, consumption, and trade of industrial hemp by encouraging innovation, research and development and sharing knowledge and harmonizing standards.”