Chronicle
“Hemp can become an opportunity for new generations of farmers”

The Riachos Agricultural Museum, founded in 1989 with the purpose of preserving the memories of the Riachos community linked to agriculture, includes an important collection linked to hemp cultivation. The museum has hundreds of agricultural pieces and is visited by more than two thousand people every year. Riachos, in the municipality of Torres Novas, in central Portugal, was an agricultural land with an economy heavily dependent on the primary sector, where hemp was integrated. Luís Mota Figueira, technical director of the museum, wrote a text that was published in 2021 in CannaDouro Magazine and that explains the region's connection to hemp.
"We are a community museum. With all due respect, I quote the following excerpt from a text by Anthropologist André Lopes: “The Riachos Agricultural Museum (MAR), in Ribatejo, has a complete collection of hemp production in the region, consisting of objects and tools (lawnmowers, spades, plants) and documentation (photographs, academic works, official publications and magazines). (…) In the 34 years of the campaign, Ribatejo produced 90% of the country's hemp, on the banks of the Almonda and Tagus rivers, in the municipalities of Torres Novas and Golegã. The hemp rods found in MAR, sown a few decades ago in the Almonda floodplains, are impressively robust: at over 3 metres long, they are unique examples of the hard work and arduous tasks of that crop. Despite being fruitful, hemp farming was the most striking thing on the bodies of the workers from Riachos, as some still testify today: "That was not for the faint-hearted".”. This was how this agricultural culture was described in the newspaper “Riachense” on May 9, 2009.
The JournalistManuel Fernandes Vicente referred, on August 9, 2013, in the Jornal Torrejano some aspects of the “1st National Meeting of Hemp Growers – Friends of Hemp"occurred at MAR. It listed the presence of “(…) around two dozen participants.”, advancing that, “According to a young farmer who came from the Algarve to the meeting at the Riachos museum, hemp production could become economically interesting. But for that to happen, we need to go beyond the simple production of hemp fiber, which when sold abroad brings in meager revenues, barely compensating for all the costs of producing and marketing the crop. Hemp production, contextualized with appropriate technologies, can be revalued, integrating the new agrarian economy.
MAR observes this process, offers historical and ethnographic interpretations, and is available to act as a “gateway” for the rehabilitation of this agricultural crop. Hemp, now with minimized impacts, can become a new opportunity for new generations of farmers. They will be the heirs to the knowledge of the “Canhamicultores”, a term given by the historian of Torres Novas, Joaquim Rodrigues Bicho, to the enterprising hemp farmers of the 40s to 70s.
Joaquim Lopes Santana and Manuel Carvalho Simões are from Riachos who, among others, also provide us with information available in their published descriptions. Natércia Santos and Cecília Baptista, researchers at the Polytechnic Institute of Tomar, produced scientific information in partnership with MAR, providing hypotheses for further applications in products derived from this crop. Within the dynamics that unite People, their Territories and their Organizations, MAR, in presenting the “Hemp” Collection narratively, uses the knowledge of those who shared it with us and are no longer with us. However, it also rescues the knowledge of Farmers, Agricultural Houses and Researchers, using archival documents, oral knowledge and data accredited by Polytechnic research. NESTMAR – MAR’s Study Center, adds this scientific component.
The heritage of hemp cultivation (material and immaterial) raises questions and encourages the search for answers. The network of partners and their participation in the museum are part of this defence of credible cultural values, and as such, we find the collaboration of the associative, business, scientific and social movements associated with this culture. The social function of the museum links Tradition and Contemporaneity in an inclusive way, generating greater heritage literacy. Safeguarding heritage, evoking past generations to serve present and future generations, is our Mission.
From the vision retained in https://cannadouro.pt/magazine/ and following the idea that “CANNADOURO MAGAZINE aims to promote the dissemination and use of agro-industrial hemp as a resource and raw material for a more ecologically sustainable lifestyle, contributing to the decarbonization of society and the adoption of more ecological consumption habits, recovering the important historical role that hemp already occupied before the petrochemical era”, we clarify our position. We believe that the magazine's initiative deserves attention and collaboration from MAR, making ourselves available, within our competences, to join the joint path in the valorization of Hemp.
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This text was originally published in CannaDouro Magazine.
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[Disclaimer: Please note that this text was originally written in Portuguese and is translated into English and other languages using an automatic translator. Some words may differ from the original and typos or errors may occur in other languages.]____________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Louis Mota Figueira
Technical Director of the Riachos Agricultural Museum, in Torres Novas
lmota@ipt.pt
