The Agri-Science Park (ASP) at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) notched a milestone with one of the private sector partner, Nandan Biomatrix Limited, opening a research and development, process and formulation facility housed within the ASP.

According to Dr William Dar, director general of ICRISAT, with Nandan Biomatrix setting up the unit in the ASP, ICRISAT has strengthened its public-private partnership for improving agricultural productivity in the semi-arid tropics. Dr Dar inaugurated the facilities of Nandan Biomatrix at ASP on May 30, 2006.

The integrated facilities of Nandan are expected to be able to standardize herbal extracts, produce standardized bulk extracts and develop specialty formulations.

The R&D wing consisting of drug development, quality control, instrumentation and microbiology units, is equipped with sophisticated facilities that would enable for novel drug discovery and analysis of the herbal products at every stage, right from raw materials to finished products.

The processing plant has been designed for extraction of Aloe Vera, Safed Musli and various other medicinal herbs. Organically certified materials are processed in a chemical free way for protecting the active ingredient. The facility brings the chain of cultivation, processing and marketing under a single umbrella.

The Agri-Science Park is the means by which ICRISAT facilitates technology commercialization to help farmers in the Semi-Arid Tropics (SAT) through partnerships with the private and public sectors. The Agri-Science Park brings together the expertise available at ICRISAT, the State Government and renowned and start-up private sector companies.