Cimap to conserve 2,000 new species

Cimap director S P S Khanuja said that the institute had so far conserved more than 2,000 plant varieties in five of its locations spread across the country. "We want to double that number this year," he added.

Speaking on the sidelines of a one-day national seminar on herbal industry organised by the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Fapcci) here on Saturday, Khanuja said that the current focus of Cimap is on the development of a functional gene bank for evolving new genotypes.

He said that Cimap acquired 100 patents pertaining to processes, molecules, methods and even diagnostic tools. The emphasis , at present, is to make them available to the industries.

Fapcci president O P Goenka said that though around 1,800 species were systematically documented in the codified Indian system of medicine, today only 880 medicinal plants were involved in the country's trade with 48 being exported.

As per the World Bank projections, he said, the global market for medicinal plants and their products is likely to touch $5 trillion by 2050, reflecting an annual growth rate of 14 per cent. The world market for herbal products at present is estimated to be in the range of $62 billion and India's share in this is only $1 billion.

The one-day seminar was inaugurated by Suresh Reddy, speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly.