Choosing Colombia
The Colombians have invested hugely in their administration and are now proactively supporting the medicinal cannabis industry after looking at markets such as Canada, US and Europe.
Carl Haffner | Chief Operating Officer, Avida Global
Ricardo Arboleda Cuadrado | Master Grower, Avida Global
When Avida Global was seeking a place to produce medicinal cannabis, it chose Colombia. In many ways, this makes sense. The terrain and climate are perfect – and the country has a legacy of growing cannabis, particularly in the 1960s when it became a major supplier for the growing US illicit recreational market.
But it’s also about the mood in Colombia. This is a country moving forward fast. The Colombians have invested hugely in their administration and are now proactively supporting the medicinal cannabis industry after looking at markets such as Canada, US and Europe. It has a bright future and a world-class regulatory environment.
Partly because of the country’s legacy of illegal growing, Colombia has developed very strict licensing laws, overseen by the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Agriculture, and the whole industry is closely monitored to ensure producers are fulfilling the obligations of their licences. While around 1000 licences have been issued to cannabis producers in Colombia, there are only about four or five companies in the country looking at the business globally including Avida Global, which is partly because of the difficulty in getting a licence, and that you have to build a facility to prove your intention.
As a result of these conditions, Colombia’s regulatory system for medicinal cannabis is one of the very best in the world. This structure enables companies not only to grow their varieties there, but also to import and export, giving cannabis companies and Colombia, an advantage on the world stage.
Growing at the foot of the Andes
Colombia is split into five separately managed geographical regions. If you grow and register strains in one region, you cannot grow those strains in another, thereby controlling the flora of each region and minimising the risk of cross-contamination from pests and diseases.
The Avida Global facility is based in La Jagua de Ibirico in Cesar, north-east Colombia at the foot of the Andes, on an old family farm at the edge of a natural reserve. We chose this region as it met our exacting standards of temperature, light, humidity and protection, and we believe it’s probably the best growing area in the country.
The constant equatorial temperature here helps us to maintain this optimum growing environment as does the powerful light. With mountains to the east, we benefit from a natural airflow, and at 300m above the sea level, we avoid the humidity of lower areas creating perfect conditions for growing cannabis.
A unique way of growing
Cannabis plants are like a sponge; whatever’s in the environment goes into them, which is why we grow hydroponically in purpose-built greenhouses, which is akin to growing in laboratory conditions, using the regional climate to optimise the growth of our plants.
Our water comes from two deep wells fed by Andean aquifers which is then cleaned through a reverse osmosis system to make it completely clean and safe before we add nutrients. With low humidity, about 13 hours of daylight and a constant temperature of 26-34c, we have the capacity to harvest about five and a half crop cycles a year.
Our plants are:
never more than one metre tall, to ensure the best flower
grown from clones and stable genetics from mother plants, using well-tested genetic material, to give the most homogeneous plants possible
grandmother seeds, grown into mothers to get the strongest strains, which then feed back into our production cycle
have an unique reference code so the end product can be traced back to its original source
Even though we are capable of up six harvests per annum, we use a batch-to-batch rotation system, harvesting in controlled batches three times per week, which ensures the quality and consistency of our oil. Within 24 hours of harvesting, we use on-site dryers to extract the best quality oils ensuring correct moisture levels throughout the process.
We capture the genetic data of our plants throughout the cultivation process allowing us to constantly adapt and tailor our approach so each strain reaches its full potential.
EU GMP Certification
Our whole facility has been designed and built to EU GMP standards and we are on track to achieve certification this year, which will give us access to cannabis retailers and prescribers based in the UK and Europe. We are also focussing on the sizeable local market in Colombia and will export to our South American neighbours; namely Brazil, Uruguay, Chile and Mexico, and the US subject to licencing processes and federal legality.
Harnessing the local skillset
We use as much local labour as we can and currently employ about 60 people onsite using a strict security process bound by the Ministry of Justice. We have strong ties with the local community, recruiting graduates of the regional National Training Service or SENA (Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje) college who have completed their agricultural studies and understand the link between agriculture and medicine.
By the time we utilise the full 40 hectares of land we are licensed for, we expect to employ about 600 people. Nearly three quarters (70 per cent) of our workforce is female, and we’re keen to maintain this ratio as we grow to give opportunities to local women who are disadvantaged in terms of employment opportunities in the region.
Constantly learning and innovating
We have just started a three-year clinical research programme led by our Chief Medical Officer Dr Francisco Cabal – a leading Colombian trauma doctor. These trials will focus on the areas of; Trauma, PTSD/anxiety and Multiple Sclerosis, and will be run through Dr Cabal’s clinics, i-Care.
At the UK end of the business, we’re part of the Medicinal Cannabis Group which is overseeing the pioneering Project Twenty21 trial, and we have relationships with universities and academies in Colombia, the UK and Israel. We will take the research and data from these projects to enhance our learning and provide a better service to doctors, prescribers and patients.
Giving back to the local community
When we set-up Avida Global, one of our key values from the beginning was to give back to the country, to both the environment and its people. That’s why we set up the Avida Foundation, a charity registered in Colombia through which we will donate a percentage of our profits to support the people in the local town in the areas of education, local enterprise, the environment and arts and culture.
La Jagua has suffered through the Covid crisis with families being locked down and not having schemes like Furlough (in the UK). As such they have seen a lot of hardship. Since August last year we have donated over four tonnes of food to local families working with the local mayor’s office in La Jagua.
We adhere to strict environmental management practices including that of waste products. Every tree on our 40-hectare site is numbered and catalogued as to its type, position, size and wildlife habitat. If we need to remove a tree for any reason, we have an environmental plan to replace it.
The way forward
The many negative pre-conceptions about Colombia have been inherited from its chequered legacy which continues to be propagated by mass media. The reality is that this is a country that is unrecognisable from what it was 30 years ago.
The advantages to being based in Colombia are vast; from optimum climatic conditions and the legislative framework, to the local horticultural skillset derived from Colombia’s long history of growing fruit, vegetables, coffee and cut flowers - we think it’s the best place in the world to grow.