The Moroccan Government announced last month the launch of a study to investigate the potential of incorporating cannabis into animal feed.
There’s a lot to like about hemp as an animal feed. Even the waste product left over from extracting hemp seed oil for human consumption, ‘cake’ or meal, is high in nutrients. But in many places across the world, the use of hemp as stock fodder is still banned; mainly over concerns about even trace levels of the intoxicating cannabinoid THC tainting animal products.
According to Anadolu Agency, the Moroccan Agency for the Regulation of Activities Related to Cannabis study will be run over ten months and has a primary goal of developing a feed formulation for the poultry sector based on hemp. It will also be seeking to determine if hemp feed may be an effective alternative to growth-stimulating antibiotics.
On June 3, 2022, Morocco announced an action plan to exploit cannabis for medical, cosmetic and industrial purposes. This was followed by law regulating its uses coming into effect in July the same year, legalizing its for those applications.
Elsewhere, it’s only relatively recently that Hemp Seed Meal (HSM) became legal for use in laying hen feed in the USA, following approval by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) in 2024. AAFCO is a non-regulatory body promoting the uniform regulation of feed in the USA, based on the recommendations of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The USA guidelines allow up to 20% hemp inclusion as a protein/fat source. However, individual state regulations and final FDA clearance for THC/CBD levels remain important to enable full commercial adoption.
The US victory came after the Hemp Feed Coalition (HFC) worked for years have the ban lifted.
Animal feed is one of the many agricultural uses of hemp. Some other applications include phytoremediation (cleaning up contaminated soil), animal bedding and as a crop fertiliser.
Cannabis has been cultivated in Morocco for centuries but became illegal after the nation’s independence in 1956, which was reaffirmed by a total ban on drugs in 1974. However, the country remained the world’s top supplier of cannabis in 2024.
