A medicinal herbs processing centre has been established in Dumre, Bhumlu rural municipality, offering a dependable supply of earnings from forest assets for many individuals in Kavre, 30 kilometres southeast of Kathmandu.
The agricultural municipality launched the centre as a mannequin mission for processing herbs by setting up a devoted facility.
The centre’s main goal is to provide medicinal items utilizing herbs present in native forests, remodel the agricultural neighborhood right into a hub for herb manufacturing, and join farmers with natural farming programmes, mentioned Prem Bhujel, a ward chairman within the rural municipality.
Regardless of Nepal’s wealthy natural assets, the nation has not absolutely capitalised on their well being and financial advantages as a consequence of inadequate coverage help and restricted scientific analysis.
Bhujel mentioned the centre has already began producing important oil from titepati (Artemisia), a plant identified for its medicinal properties.
“We carried out a trial manufacturing, extracting one litre of titepati oil. This trial is essential for discussions with stakeholders. We plan to scale up and manufacture the oil in massive portions,” he added.
In response to Bhujel, the steam-water produced throughout titepati processing can be utilized as drugs, whereas the residual waste will be repurposed as natural fertiliser.
“Given the excessive market potential of titepati oil, we’re prioritising its manufacturing,” Bhujel said.
Titepati oil is priced between Rs8,000 and Rs10,000 per litre, whereas the condensed water sells for Rs40 to Rs50 per litre.
The oil has been used to deal with varied well being situations, together with digestive issues, respiratory illnesses, fever, malaria, and pores and skin infections.
Artemisia is a plant that may develop as much as two metres in top. It’s discovered all through Nepal, particularly in high-altitude areas between 300 and three,000 metres, largely within the mid-hills. The harvesting season lasts from August to November.
To make sure sustainable manufacturing, preparations are underway to distribute titepati saplings to farmers for mass cultivation. The processing centre has additionally began experimenting with different herbs, together with tulasi (holy basil), lemongrass, and dhasingre (an area fragrant plant).
Herbs akin to titepati, bay leaf, and rosemary are at present being cultivated on 40 ropanies of land.
Additional plans embrace establishing a greenhouse adjoining to the processing centre to develop herb saplings and help steady manufacturing.
Bhujel emphasised that the agricultural municipality will utilise unused land by forming herb manufacturing teams.
“This initiative is not going to solely shield neighborhood forests but additionally generate a dependable supply of earnings for native farmers,” he mentioned.
The agricultural municipality has additionally constructed a drier home to help herb processing. Along with medicinal herbs, the municipality plans to provide gundruk (fermented leafy greens) by drying regionally sourced inexperienced leafy greens.
“We encourage farmers to promote their inexperienced leafy greens to the agricultural municipality. A public discover has been issued requesting farmers to contact us for gross sales,” mentioned Bhujel.
Jitendra Tamang, vice-chairman of the agricultural municipality, highlighted that the processing centre has been strategically linked to income-generating actions.
“As soon as absolutely operational, the centre will create employment alternatives for locals and enhance farmers’ earnings,” he mentioned.
Locals have expressed optimism in regards to the initiative.
Rita Shiva Bhakta, a 45-year-old resident of Dumre, shared her enthusiasm, saying, “The herbs processing centre will drastically profit farmers. I’m hopeful that it’ll present us with employment alternatives.”
Shankar Raman Uprety, one other native, burdened the significance of aligning the centre’s operations with its said targets.
“If the processing centre successfully connects farmers to its programmes, it can have a major optimistic influence on the neighborhood,” he mentioned.
The agricultural municipality stays dedicated to growing Dumre as a thriving hub for herb manufacturing, fostering sustainable farming practices, and enhancing the livelihoods of its residents.
Officers say Nepal has plentiful medicinal herbs and agricultural items that could possibly be exported to China.
Final 12 months, China opened its market to over a dozen medicinal herbs from Nepal for pharmaceutical use.
Throughout then-prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s go to to China in late September, the 2 international locations signed the Protocol of Phytosanitary Necessities for exporting plant-derived medicinal supplies for Chinese language drugs from Nepal to China.
Within the final fiscal 12 months, Nepal exported 7,362 tonnes of medicinal herbs value Rs2.25 billion, together with yarsagumba (Ophiocordyceps sinensis), a extremely prized Himalayan herb, generally generally known as caterpillar fungus that grows naturally within the Himalayas. Of the full export, yarsagumba weighing 1 tonne value Rs701.86 million went primarily to Hong Kong and China.
Different crops or their components amounting to 7,361 tonnes value Rs1.54 billion utilized in perfumery and pharmaceutical merchandise had been exported, primarily to India, China and Bangladesh.
