Date Of Article: 3/12/2003
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Medi on herbal medicine project
By: Ayam Maeresa
The Malawi Entrepreneurship Development Institute (Medi) plans to carry out a project seeking to commercialise plant-based products, referred in the industry as green pharmaceuticals, to take advantage of a growing global multibillion dollar market, a top official said on Tuesday. Chief executive Charles Kazembe said in a telephone interview from Mponela that the project realises the country is blessed with many herbal plants, some which of have been used by communities to treat ailments for over a century. He said the project seeks to empower locals to move from traditional usage of herbal medicines to commercial due to a growing global market for herbal medicines such as health foods, whose market is about US$80-250 billion in Europe and the US. Kazembe said with proper knowledge and enabling structures, people can benefit financially from exporting herbal products like sex booster gondolosi, which grows in some parts of the country and has made headlines as a potential export product but is yet to be exploited. Malawi’s herbal medicines, though processed on a primitive basis, have been finding their way onto the South African market. “The climate here is good for growing of these herbal medicinal plants and we would like to give it try,” said Kazembe. According to Siodharha Sanka Dash, an entrepreneurship development expert attached to Medi by the Commonwealth secretariat for the project, plant-based products are now taking a major share of the global drug market. He said the market has seen a wave of herbal cosmetics, perfumes, condiments and confectionaries. Dash said herbal medicines are used in developing countries for primary health care because of better cultural acceptability and lesser side effects. “The global market and industry both have been growing rapidly in recent years. It is estimated that herbal preparations have a US$50 dollar market,” said Dash. He said as Malawi has strong traditional knowledge and a spread of plant life, it has the potential to emerge as one of the producers of herbal medicines and other products. But he said first the country has to consolidate the past gains of traditional knowledge base, start developing new herbal preparations based on Malawi’s bio-diversity and make these products available to the international community. “We need to recognise that Malawi at present has a weak physical infrastructure and inadequate documentation. This coupled with poor public awareness and delays in framing policies and implementing approach is hurting Malawi,” said Dash. He said the country will continue to lose the rights in areas where it has contributed if does not protect and patent the knowledge on medicinal plant used.
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