Nandan, Felda likely to form JV

The Federal Land Development Authority (Felda), a land development agency in Malaysia, and Hyderabad-based Nandan Biomatrix Limited may joins hands to promote local herbs globally.

Felda, which represents the single largest oil palm plantation in the world, is now focusing on promoting the Malaysian herbal industry and has identified Nandan Biomatrix as a successful organisation in this sector.

A Felda delegation, led by its chairman Tan Sri Mohd Yusof Noor, recently visited the Hyderabad company to learn about its 'integrated business model'. "The purpose of our visit is to understand how medicinal plants can be brought into mainstream cultivation and to explore how value addition and wealth creation could be made in this industry for Malaysia," Tan Sri Mohd told mediapersons.

V Bhaskar Rao, managing director of Nandan Biomatrix, said the company had already established a subsidiary in Malaysia in anticipation of a possible joint venture with Felda to bring local herbs on to the global platform.

"We are currently working out the financial modalities for the joint venture. While we will provide our R&D expertise and set up a herbal extraction plant in Malaysia, Felda would take care of cultivation, marketing of herbal products etc," Rao said, adding that they were planning to target the US, Europe and Asian markets with Malaysia as the hub.

According to Tan Sri Mohd, Felda manages around 2 million acres of oil palm plantations in Malaysia. "We plan to grow medicinal plants as an inter-crop in our oil palm plantations. Besides, we have urged all the 13 state governments in Malaysia to allot marginal land, around 500 acres each to start with, for medicinal plants," he said.

The global herbal business is estimated to be around $300 billion, while it is put at $3 billion (Malaysian dollars) in Malaysia.