Kwaebibirem to establish herbal farms

Asuom (E/R), Aug 20, GNA - A herbal farm is to be established in the Kwaebibirem District to assist herbalists to obtain some of their raw materials.

The District Chief Executive, Mr Yaw Yiadom-Boakye, who announced this at the inauguration of the Vision View Herbal Centre-Annex at Asuom said the farm, to be sited at Abodom near Kade, would be a joint venture between the Kwaebibirem District Assembly and the Traditional Medicine Practitioners Association in the District.

The Centre, which has its main herbal clinic at Ekoso near Asamankese, was established as a collaboration between its director, Dr S. M. Sackey, the World Health Organisation and the Nanoa Environmental and Human Development Organization (NEHDO), a local NGO.

Mr Yiadom-Boakye said other farms would be set up to provide herbalists with easy and regular access to medicinal plants they required for their herbal preparations.

The DCE assured herbal practitioners that the assembly would continue to assist them financially to enable them to send their preparations to the Mampong Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine (CSRPM) for laboratory analysis. Dr Sackey said since its establishment in 2000, the Centre had treated 46,234 patients including a large number from the United States, Germany, Japan, Italy and the United Kingdom.