BRAND PROFILE
thus make a fundamental change in the country’s
economy. They believe that with its natural
geographical advantages, India can become one
of the leading hemp-producing countries in the
world. Presently, China produces over 70 per
cent of the world’s hemp fibre output.
Exploring the many uses of hemp, the team
felt that they could work with farmers in India to
source hemp from the wild and subsequently,
with other artisans and entrepreneurs to make
hemp products related to food (that is, oil and
seeds), clothing (from hemp fabrics that are
credited as being the world’s most sustainable
textile solution), and shelter (that is, construct
buildings with hempcrete that are carbon-neutral
bricks of hemp biomass). In the past six years,
BOHECO has successfully developed distinct
businesses with hemp, of which textiles and food
at present form the main arm, and the products
are available on www.boheco.org.
ADVANTAGE HEMP
For many people, the first response to hemp
fabric may be to ask if it has any association with
cannabis. Here, the team clarifies that the hemp
they use is a member of the Cannabis sativa
family and not Cannabis indica; the latter has
psychoactive effects and has very little industrial
use. “Hemp is a hardy, eco-friendly plant, as
unlike cotton that requires abundant water to
grow and pesticides, it does not require much
water or pesticides to grow. It is one of the
oldest cultivated crops. However, the crop
has been marginalised and maligned as it has
mistakenly been thought of as Cannabis indica.
Cannabis sativa has 25,000 end uses across
several industries. It is known as a trillion-dollar
super crop,” says Chirag Tekchandaney, Co-
WITH ITS NATURAL
GEOGRAPHICAL
ADVANTAGES, INDIA
CAN BECOME ONE OF
THE LEADING HEMP
COUNTRIES IN THE
WORLD.
Founder and Director of Marketing and Human
Resources, BOHECO.
He elaborates, “Hemp needs only 90–120
days to grow, grows up to 10–12 feet in height in
three months, is hardy so does not require much
care to be cultivated, has long roots which help
prevent soil erosion, is naturally disease-free, one
of the best carbon-neutral/negative crops, has
practically zero wastage and is one of the best
rotation crops as it improves the yield of crops in
the next cycle. Growing cotton takes four times
the amount of resources than growing hemp. So,
growing hemp would be attractive to small- and
medium-scale farmers. With hemp’s manifold
uses, growing hemp could create a revolution.”
HEMP YARN
Cannabis sativa is a high-fibre plant, and the
fibre obtained by processing the outer layer of
its stems is used to make yarn for apparel. The
stems of the plant are cut, soaked in water,
and their skins removed. These skins are then
processed and spun to make yarn. Hand-
spun hemp yarn is typically used for making
APPAREL
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