Staff Correspondent
JORHAT, April 1: The CSIR-NEIST, Jorhat, and the National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) under the Union Ministry of AYUSH, on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the establishment of the Regional-cum-Facilitation Centre (RCFC) at the institute.
A CSIR-NEIST official informed this newspaper that the MoU was signed during a virtual meeting today by the CSIR-NEIST Director Dr G Narahari Sastry and Dr JLN Sastry, CEO, NMPB.
The official stated that the proposed RCFC at the institute will act as an one-stop centre for the growers, cultivators, researchers, traders and other stakeholders of medicinal plants and function in close coordination with the State Medicinal Plants Board, the State implementing agency of the medicinal plants component of the AYUSH Mission in the north-eastern region.
The official mentioned that the RCFC is also expected to provide a service window for growers of medicinal plants, support conservation, development, marketing and cultivation of medicinal plants and provide handholding support to stakeholders in terms of technology dissemination and in establishing primary processing facilities.
The official further informed that in a related development, the CSIR-NEIST today organized a webinar on the topic ‘Science, technology and skill development in medicinal, aromatic plants for rural development in the Northeast.’
The official said the CSIR-NEIST is vigorously working on CSIR-Aroma Mission and propagating the high-yielding varieties of citronella and lemon grass, patchaouli, kaeamferia galanga in the noth-eastern states as well as other parts of the country through different NGOs, stakeholders, aroma industries, plantation industries and CSIR-NEIST branch laboratories located in Imphal and Itanagar.
