Herbs - the 'million dollar' treasure in Nghe An is awakened

(Baonghean) - Medicinal herbs considered 'Gifts from nature' are being exploited by businesses, becoming valuable, easy-to-use, and health-beneficial products.

Nature has blessed Vietnam with more than 5,000 species of precious herbs. In Nghe An, thousands of species are being awakened by TH Group with great promise.

Vietnamese are missing out on hundreds of millions of dollars every year.

At the Government's national conference on the development of Vietnamese medicinal materials held in April 2017, the Institute of Medicinal Materials said: As of 2017, 5,117 species of plants and fungi, 408 species of animals and 75 types of minerals with medicinal uses have been recorded in Vietnam. Of these, about 70 species have the potential to be exploited with a total reserve of about 18,000 tons/year such as fish mint (5,000 tons), cau tich (1,500 tons), passion flower (1,500 tons), bitter ground vegetable (1,500 tons)...

Growing passion flower in Nghia Dan. Photo: Chau Lan

Many mass media also reported that wild plants along Vietnamese fences have become valuable “miracle drugs” that are sought after by the whole world. For example, the gac fruit is called “the fruit from heaven” by Americans, and the passionflower is extremely popular and sought after by the Japanese and Americans because of its wonderful effects in curing insomnia and calming the nerves from this “miracle drug”.

But there is a sad reality that Vietnamese people scrape off entire forests of precious medicinal herbs to sell them raw at cheap prices, and forget about the gifts from heaven on the fences and ponds of their homes.

And the reality is that Vietnam has not yet been able to turn precious medicinal products into high-value goods for widespread use. The issue of research and application of science and technology in the production and processing of medicinal materials is still fragmented, not catching up with many countries in the region as well as being small-scale, not ensuring the production of goods, meeting the huge demand of the market of 100 million people and for export.

That is why, despite having a “treasure trove” of precious herbs, Vietnamese people still spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year to import herbal ingredients from abroad. And fruits from paradise such as gac or passionflower… are still just dormant potentials outside the fence of the Vietnamese medicinal herb garden.

Finding the key to open the "treasure trove" of Vietnamese herbs

While foreigners are eyeing the Vietnamese herbal "treasure trove", trying to find ways to buy raw materials in bulk and retail finished products at sky-high prices, there are dedicated businessmen who are struggling to find ways to "open the door" to the Vietnamese herbal treasure trove.

Growing pennywort in Nghia Dan. Photo: CL

Three years ago, Ms. Thai Huong - Chairwoman of TH Group's Board of Directors shared her concerns: "Vietnam used to be a precious medicinal herb warehouse, but now both the plants and roots have gone to China and we have become a market for their waste medicinal herbs. After milk, we will invest in medicinal herbs, will preserve, develop and maintain clean, rare herbal gene sources in many regions across the country."

And Ms. Thai Huong has cherished the project of doing business under the forest canopy by applying high technology (science and technology and management science) to planting, cultivating, harvesting and processing medicinal plants under the forest canopy and buffer zone, bringing about outstanding efficiency in productivity per unit of cultivation and providing top quality herbal products. In addition, the natural collection of indigenous herbs by using local labor not only helps to preserve and sustainably exploit the upstream forest which is the place to keep water sources and biodiversity, but also helps to promote the local economy, reduce poverty sustainably and enrich the people in the area.

And now, coming to Nghia Dan, we will witness the vast herbal fields of TH Group to gradually realize the cherished dreams of a woman who is always worried and has new directions to enrich her homeland Nghe An.

On August 20, 2017, TH Group launched 3 TH true Herbal products.

The line of herbal drinks completely from nature, beneficial for health - TH true Herbal was born like that. From the medicinal farms of TH Group, gac, pennywort, passionflower... are grown according to American and European organic standards (certified since 2015) and it can be said that TH true Herbal is the pioneer in laying the foundation for drinks produced from these internationally standard organic ingredients.

On August 20, 2017, TH true Herbal will officially launch 3 completely new products to Vietnamese consumers on the market. The first revelations show that these are herbal drinks, produced from gac fruit, passionflower and pennywort according to special health care formulas.

We are completely confident that, based on precious herbal resources and thousands of years of history, TH true Herbal will certainly continue the story of the tradition of health and happiness with herbal drinks that preserve the essence of nature, helping to improve health.

Having experience in turning rocks into the most fertile fields in Vietnam with the TH dairy cow farming project, Ms. Thai Huong is expected to continue to breathe “new life” into the herbal drink market for public health. From there, she will contribute to preserving Vietnam’s precious herbs, turning them into commercial products, into “gold” for the Vietnamese people.

PV