Vythiri, in the hilly district of Wayanad, is being proposed as the location for the ambitious herbal village project. Senior Government officials told Pharmabiz.com that several companies doing business in the area of pharmaceuticals and herbal products have already evinced interest in the multi-crore venture. Talks were being held between the officials and top brass of the Dabur India Private Limited and Pioma Industries Mumbai.
The project is first of its kind in the country. The Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Kinfra) has conceived this Rs. 15 crore-project to be developed as a joint venture with private sector entrepreneurs.
Elaborating on the project the Kinfra managing director, G. C. Gopala Pillai, said that the herbal village would be developed in about 750 acres of land in Vythiri. About 60 per cent of the total land would be utilised for cultivation and the remaining land would be used for developing the supporting infrastructure and ancillary facilities. "Major entrepreneurs in the field of herbal or Ayurvedic industry are expected to take a share of the land in herbal village,'' he said.
Kinfra would provide the necessary infrastructure facilities for a smooth and high quality functioning of the herbal village. The supporting facilities will include dedicated power supply through 11 KV feeder lines, continuous water supply, communication facilities, internal roads and street lighting, housing scheme for employees, medical centre and common facilities like post office, bank, comfort stations, guest houses, reference centre and conference hall.
He said that the herbal village would be a conglomeration of mass cultivation, collection centres and research and development facilities. Developed land with basic infrastructure would be made available to the entrepreneurs for commercial cultivation of medicinal plants. Small and medium semi processing units would produce value added products and these would be traded in the domestic and foreign markets.
The collection centres will be equipped with modern facilities for collection and storing without losing any properties. These centres will be equipped with all modern facilities for analytical and quality control equipment for medicinal plans and finalised products. Conservation and multiplication of planting material (nursery) with the help of modern facilities like tissue culture and bio-technical means would be done at the centre.
Gopala Pillai said that the herbal village would have its own water supply scheme for potable and irrigation requirements. Water would be sourced from nearby perennial source to provide continuous water supply to the herbal village. "The private sector partner would be asked to develop the some of the centres including the research and development wing, semi processing unit and development of the herbal village,'' he said.
The industrial units would be able to utilise the technology with the setting up of the research and development centre. Existing institutions, common facilities such as instrumentation, animal housing, pilot planting depending on the client would provide the support. The department would undertake technology upgradation process and product standardisation, validation of products, quality control and quality assurance of products, toxicity studies and animal efficacy studies. The centre would also take care of identification and propagation of genuine planting materials, incorporating modern facilities.