Tuesday, May 9th, 2006
Bhopal – Madhya Pradesh plans to set up herbal medicine processing centres in Singapore and Dubai, state Forests Minister Himmat Kothari said.
‘The government is also considering setting up a herbal medicine showroom at Dubai in view of the increasing inclination towards such medicines,’ Kothari told IANS.
‘A system is in place for processing, storage, quality control and marketing of medicinal and aromatic herbs. Thirteen small godowns (warehouses) have been built and 35 more are proposed to be built,’ said Kothari.
‘For encouraging herbal production, herbal market systems are functioning at Indore, Bhopal and Jabalpur,’ he said.
India contributes a mere one percent to the global trade in herbal medicine, which stands around Rs.600 billion annually. Such drugs constitute 25 percent of the medicine sector.
Herbal medicine output in Madhya Pradesh increases 10 percent every year and the government is constantly encouraging farmers.
A grant of Rs.175 million was given to 550 farmers by the National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB). This year, the proposals of 1,275 cultivators were forwarded to NMPB.
A well-equipped laboratory has been set up here for researching herbal medicine.
Besides processing and packaging of natural honey, 36 ayurvedic medicines were being produced and marketed from the facility.

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