Herbal medicine garden in Jeypore

April 15, 2007,
OUR CORRESPONDENT

Bhubaneswar, April 14: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today inaugurated a medicinal plants’ garden and conservation centre named after his father at MS Swaminathan Research Centre in Koraput district.

The Biju Patnaik Medicinal Plants’ Garden and Research Centre aims at preserving about 1,750 rare plants and herbs that were abundantly available in the jungles of undivided Koraput.

Inaugurating the centre, Naveen said he was hopeful that the research centre would work towards unravelling the therapeutic value of medicinal plants and herbs.

The MS Swaminathan Foundation has also planned to set up a herbal bio-valley at Tola village in Jeypore block of Koraput. The centre will establish a research, training and capacity building centre in the district for strengthening situ and ex-situ conservation and for undertaking validation and identification of active bio-molecules, sources said.

Work on the Biju Patnaik Medicinal Plants’ Garden and Research Centre started three years ago. Twelve acres of land, adjacent to Jeypore town, was allotted by the state government to MSSRF.

Meanwhile, the MSSRF is likely to assign an acre of land to all the predominant tribes of the district for cultivating the medicinal plants they use for their healthcare needs.

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