Sami Labs Ltd, the Bangalore-based producer and exporter of
standardised herbal extracts, fine chemicals and nutraceuticals,
has plans for taking up large-scale cultivation of select
medicinal plants in Kerala. “Kerala has an equitable
climate and hence, most tropical and sub-tropical plants will
grow here. Our company would like to encourage the cultivation
of these commercial crops in the State,” informed Dr
Muhammed Majeed, Chairman and Managing Director, Sami Labs.
“Until
now, we concentrated the cultivation in Salem (Yercaud district),
around Bangalore, in stretches between Mysore and Coorg, Tirunelveli
districts. We already have more than 3,000 acres under contract
farming with buyback arrangement for cultivation of select
medicinal plants. We also want to set up demonstration-cum-research
farms to encourage cultivation of improved varieties of these
plants. The wild resources are threatened because excessive
collection. This was our major motivation to go in for large-scale
cultivation,” Dr Majeed said.
Sami
Labs last year set up the country’s first commercial-scale
plant based on the carbon dioxide supercritical fluid extraction
(SCFE) technology developed by Indian Institute of Technology-
Bombay under the Government of India’s ‘Technology
Mission programme’. The technology works at atmospheric
pressures of more than 300 bars for selective extraction of
active compounds from natural products for pharmaceutical
and nutraceutical usage. The SCFE technology has special relevance
in the context of increasing scrutiny of solvent residues
in pharmaceuticals, medical & nutraceuticals and other
stricter regulations on various types of emissions. At the
Sami Labs’ SCFE facility, we selectively extract the
herbs, oils food products, cosmeceuticals and fragrances,”
informed Dr Majeed.
Dwelling
on the company’s initiatives for contract/third party
manufacturing & analysis for the global nutritional industry
and scope for Indian companies therein, he stated that contract
research would be a very attractive option for India. But,
on the other hand, contract manufacturing will provide far
less value addition, according to him.” The nutritional
supplement industry worldwide is growing. India has a potential
to be in the forefront provided we concentrate on value addition.
This is the approach Sami Labs has adopted,” informed
Dr Majeed.