The Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP) Hyderabad is likely to enter into an agreement with Pharmexcil for the promotion of medicinal and herbal plants in the country.
CIMAP scientist-in-charge Dr B R Rajeswara Rao said that the institute will probably come into an agreement with Pharmexcil for working in collaboration for the promotion of medicinal and herbal plants at all India level in next couple of months.
"We had an interactive meeting with Pharmexcil to discuss the various aspects and potential of medicinal plants. As there is a potential market for herbal and medicinal plants, a collaborative effort can give a push to medicinal plants segment. The plan is at a very nascent stage. The council would be consulting our Lucknow institute in this direction," Dr Rao said.
When contacted, Pharmexcil executive director Dr. P V Appaji said that though the plan is not concrete yet, it is planning to put forth a proposal before the director of Pharmexcil for an MoU with CIMAP to identify the value added preposition of medicinal plants and its development.
According to Dr. Rao, total business turnover from MAP products was recorded at Rs. 80 crore and the employment generation through MAP is over one million days of rural employment per annum. Until now CIMAP has established 40-50 medicinal plant processing units along with setting -up of distillation, manufacturing and marketing units through its trainees.
Till now the institute has more than 9400 hectare area under cultivation in the state covering over 4500 farmers (including tribals), making it an important industry destination for raw materials.
As part of its promotional activity, the institute is currently engaged in promoting the cultivation of medicinal and herbal plants (MAP) in deccan platue. The institute facilitates technology transfer as well as other assistance towards cultivation of these plants across the state of Andhra Pradesh. Besides, it also recommends farmers who cultivate MAP to the government for subsidy, he said. In Andhra Pradesh lawn pepper is extensively grown, especially in tribal areas, followed by citronella, amla and other plants. The cost of cultivation varies from plant to plant; the average cost is between Rs. 5000 and Rs.50000, he added.
CIMAP, which has numerous patents to its credits, has released three high yielding varieties of basil and few more are in the pipeline. The institute, which acts as a facilitator between the industry and farmers, has initiated survey of MAP farmers towards identifying the crucial areas in MAP cultivation and to assess the reach of CIMAP programmes in the farming community.
Dr. Rao said that though contribution of India in global medicinal plant based drugs market is less than 1 per cent, if harnessed in appropriate pattern there is possibility to significantly tap the US$ 100 billion market for plant based drugs. It is estimated that by 2050 the global market for plant-based drugs will grow to US$ 5 trillion.