Medicinal Plants Board Regional Centre to be established at Nauni varsity

In a significant achievement, Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry (UHF), Nauni, has been selected by the National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India, to establish and operate the Regional-cum-Facilitation Centre for Northern Region-I (RCFC-NR-I) after a nationwide competitive selection process.

The University secured the prestigious assignment after submitting a proposal led by Dr. Devina Vaidya, Director of Research with Dr. Rohit Sharma, Assistant Professor, Department of Forest Products, serving as Coordinator and Dr. Pankaj Kumar, Assistant Professor, Department of Biotechnology, as Co-Coordinator. The proposal was presented before the NMPB Expert Committee in New Delhi, highlighting the University's research infrastructure, technical expertise and extensive work in medicinal and aromatic plants.

The Regional-cum-Facilitation Centre, earlier housed at the Research Institute of Indian System of Medicine (RIISM), Joginder Nagar, has now been entrusted to UHF Nauni. The Centre will coordinate NMPB programmes across Delhi, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

The Centre will function as a regional hub for the conservation, cultivation, processing, value addition, research and marketing of medicinal plants. It will also facilitate technology dissemination, capacity building, promotion of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Good Field Collection Practices (GFCP), project development, documentation and policy support to strengthen the medicinal plants sector across northern India.

Congratulating the team, Prof HS Baweja, Vice-Chancellor said the selection of the University as the Regional-cum-Facilitation Centre is a matter of pride for the university and reflects the institution's commitment to advancing research, innovation and farmer-centric development in medicinal plants. He said the Centre would strengthen collaboration among researchers, farmers, entrepreneurs, industries and government agencies, while promoting sustainable cultivation, conservation and value addition of medicinal plants across northern India. Prof Baweja appreciated the efforts of Dr. Devina Vaidya, Dr. Rohit Sharma and Dr. Pankaj Kumar and team members for securing this prestigious national assignment.