Kanchi Kamakoti Peeth's NGO arm Voluntary Health Education and Rural Development Society (VHERDS) has initiated a large-scale medicinal herb cultivation project at Keezhambi village near Kancheepuram, and will soon manufacture and market its own branded herbal formulations and cosmetics.

Disclosing this to Pharmabiz.com, K. Bhanu, director, VHERDS, said the NGO has roped in about 15 Self Help Groups (SHG) to cultivate six crucial medicinal herbs in an area of 150 acres in the village. VHERDS has set up a 12-acre mother nursery at Keezhambi, and is in the process of distributing seedlings of nelli, karpoora valli, aloe vera, thulsi, adathoda etc. to over 300 women in the village to cultivate medicinal herbs in their kitchen garden as well as in the fields.

The project has financial and technical assistance from central rural ministries' CAPART and the Department of Science and Technology (DST), including training on modern cultivation practices and vermi-composting. VHERDS is in the process of roping in buyers to help the cultivators export their produce, as well as for consumption in the domestic market.

As part of the project, a new company named Prithvi Natural Products to manufacture and market herbal drugs and cosmetics has been formed under the Veda Vyasa Sabha Trust, another arm of the Kanchi Kama Koti Peeth. Products manufactured by Prithvi Natural Products will be marketed under the brand name 'Prithvi', christened by Kanchi Sankaracharya Swami Jayendra Saraswathi.

The initial batch of products, including an Aloe Vera based skin ointment and herbal soap, a capsule for memory enhancing, herbal shampoo etc. will hit the market by March 2004.

"We are waiting for the initial crop from our herbal village to start production as we have undertaken the market surveys and related studies. The crop is due by September, and in another six months time, we will be launching our initial batch of products" said Bhanu, who noted that about another 40 people could be employed in the production process at Prithvi Natural Products.