Dinh Lang, a medicinal plant, being grown in Ninh Thuan province. (Photo: VNA) It has excellent conditions for growing various plants that have high medicinaland economic value, and so 1,269 kinds of medicinal herbs grow here.
They include 82 rare, precious and endemic kinds.
But they still grow mostly in the wild, and their cultivation and processingremain on a small scale according to the province People’s Committee.
There are few companies that invest in developing value chains for medicinalplant cultivation and processing, it said.
The province has drafted a plan for until 2025 to develop and conserve themedicinal plant gene pool under which 82 precious plants would be exploitedsustainably.
It will also expand the cultivation of 25 others to meet market demand and grow60 on a large scale for use in traditional medicines by the Cham ethnic people.
It will develop a medicinal plant growing area with one or two value chainscomprising research, cultivation, processing and production of preciousindigenous herbs.
The area will meet good agricultural and collection practices of the WorldHealth Organisation (GACP-WHO) standards and use technology.
The province will continue to solicit investment in the processing of medicinalplants to make medicines, functional foods and cosmetics.
In the pipeline already are four projects to produce herbal medicines andfunctional foods in the Phuoc Nam Industrial Park in Thuan Nam district.
They include a 150 billion VND (6.4 million USD) plant to make medical andcosmetic products from neem and a 100 billion VND (4.3 million USD) plant toproduce medicines, cosmetics and functional foods from aloe vera.
The other two are a plant costing 50 billion VND (2.1 million USD) to makefunctional foods from grapes, goats and sheep and a 50-hectare medicinal plantfarm using high technology at a cost of 20 billion VND (850,000 USD) that willsupply raw materials for medicines, cosmetics and functional foods.
Nguyen Long Bien, deputy chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, saidinvestors in all sectors are encouraged to grow medicinal plants based onGACP-WHO standards.
The province would promote the export of medicinal plants and related productsto strongly develop the sector, he said.
To achieve the targets, it has assigned relevant agencies including itsOriental Traditional Medicine Association to take measures like offeringincentives and strengthening advocacy to increase awareness to exploitmedicinal plants efficiently and discard harvesting methods that damage plantsand lead to their possible extinction, he said.
It would encourage ethnic minorities to link up with companies to growmedicinal plants in combination with eco-tourism, he added./.
VNA
