Quang Nam (VNS/VNA) - Tra My district in Quang Nam province hasintroduced the first ever Ngoc Linh ginseng (Panax vietnamensis or Vietnameseginseng) and medical herbs centre in Tra Mai commune as a major source of seedand sapling in Vietnam.

Ho Quang Buu, chairmanof the district’s People’s Committee, told Vietnam News thatthe centre, which was built in a 2.5ha valley with a total investment of 6.5billion VND (287,000 USD), plans to supply 50,000 saplings and seeds of NgocLinh ginseng and herbs for local farmers in seven villages in the district thisyear.

Buu said theintroduction of the centre is an initial step toward the district’s ginsengdevelopment project on 15,000ha in seven mountainous communes.

“We set up thecentre to conserve the best seeds of Ngoc Linh ginseng and dozens of preciousmedicine herbs for a mass development of the national ginseng brand and aneco-tourism site, which he hope to have completed in the 2016-25 period,” Buusaid.

“We also plan toafforest the district with ginseng, herbs and cinnamon as part of developingthe district as a major gene conservation and seedling centre of endangeredseeds and herbs in Vietnam,” he said.

Buu added thatseven businesses had started their feasibility studies on growing 1,000ha of NgocLinh Ginseng and processing plants in the district.

So far, there are70ha of major ginseng farms in villages of Tra Nam and Tra Cang communes in thedistrict.

According to thedistrict, more than 42,000ha of primary forests have been well preserved indevelopment of the ginseng and native herbs.

Quang Nam provincealso plans to invest in infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, essential oils andcosmetics, as well as tonic drinks and capsules from ginseng in the district.

Vietnameseginseng was one of eight precious and endangered flora genes including Ba Kich(poor man’s ginseng or codonopsis), pepper, cinnamon, large-size rattan andwhite corn in the province’s conservation programme in 2014-20.

In 2015, Nam TraMy district and Hamyang county of the Republic of Korea signed a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) on tourism, agriculture, conservation and the developmentof Ngoc Linh ginseng.

In 2016, theministry of science and technology and the Intellectual Property Agency of Vietnamrecognised the Geographical Indication (GI) of "Ngoc Linh" (Panaxvietnamensis, or Vietnamese ginseng) for ginseng root products in Quang Nam andKon Tum provinces.

Ginseng was firstfound on Ngoc Linh Mountain on the border between the Central Highlands Kon Tumprovince and Quang Nam in the late 1960s.-VNA