Kazakhstan Passports To Be Made From Industrial Hemp
Humans making useful materials that incorporated the hemp plant was a very common practice by humans for thousands of years. For example, ancient Mesopotamian society used hemp as an input for fabric, going as far back as 8,000 BCE.
Hemp was also used for making rope in Kazakhstan in 3,000 BCE, based on archeological research, and hemp will reportedly be used for making passports in modern-day Kazakhstan. A draft industrial hemp law was submitted to the nation’s parliament earlier this year and eventually signed into law by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
“Kazakhstan will begin producing high-security paper from domestically cultivated industrial hemp, which will be used in the manufacture of passports and national ID cards, the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) has announced.” reported The Times of Central Asia in its original reporting.
“The main product will be high-security paper, which is a valuable export commodity used for the production of identification documents such as passports and other special forms,” Deputy Minister of Agriculture Azat Sultanov said, according to the reporting. “The range of products being considered by the investor is wide. Market demand will be taken into account, and we believe all the output will go for export.”
Hemp can be cultivated easily in the Kazakhstan region, although what will be produced according to the new law must meet a THC harvest threshold of .3%. THC threshold standards for industrial hemp vary around the world, ranging from .3% to 2%.
According to a recent market analysis conducted by Fact.MR, “worldwide sales of industrial hemp are estimated to reach US$ 25.7 billion by 2034. The market is analyzed to further expand at a CAGR of 14.5% from 2024 to 2034.” Although it is worth noting that many other projections place the global value of the industrial hemp market at an even greater total.
The government in Kazakhstan has reportedly already issued industrial hemp production licenses, with the North Kazakhstan Region being identified as the top area of the country for such activity.