If Others Are, Why not Ghana? A Case for Industrial Hemp Application in the Ghanaian Construction Industry

The advancement of the Ghanaian construction industry is seen to have a steady but bumpy path, especially in the case of adopting sustainable materials. Hemp, a plant with vast potential of attaining sustainability, has gained the attention of many across the globe yet is confronted by resistance to its integration within various economic sectors in the country. This resistance has been tied to its perceived association with marijuana and the notion of it having more harmful than beneficial impacts. This study has been undertaken to present a case for hemp as an industrial and sustainable material capable of bringing economic, environmental, and social benefits to the country. The study carried out a scoping review aided by the PRISMA principles. Articles on industrial hemp dating from December 2001 to April 2023 were sourced from several databases: Google Scholar and Scopus. 48 out of 1446 articles subjected to evaluation were deemed relevant to the study and analyzed for the review. The findings displayed an increasing trend of interest among scholars and industry practitioners in the cultivation, production, and application of industrial hemp. It also showed how scholarly research has distinguished between hemp as a drug and industrial hemp as a sustainable material. Additionally, the findings showed how education and adoption of industrial hemp were still low due to several setbacks faced by stakeholders. It was further revealed through the findings that promoting the ecological and biological mechanisms governing industrial hemp conservation and evolution, increasing scholarly interest in hemp and its industrial use, and incorporating technical know-how in the cultivation and production of hemp by-products would go a long way to boost industrial hemp application in the Ghanaian construction industry. A case has been made, and it is time for the construction industry in Ghana to consider the application of industrial hemp as one of its sustainability strides.