A plethora of herbs, siddha, ayurveda and natural products were on display at Mooligai Urtchavam, Festival of Herbs, organised by Covenant Centre for Development (CCD) here on Sunday. Lakshmi Sundaram Hall, the venue, buzzed with discussions on use of medicinal plants and sustainable living during the inauguration of the event.
This three-day herb festival was aimed at spreading the awareness of conservation of medicinal plants, said M. Muthu Velayutham, secretary, CCD. He said that they had started an initiative to form Young Farmers’ Clubs for the purpose to educate the students.
“Students can have access to expertise of 80 botanical scientists from premium institutions such as MS Swaminathan Research Foundation and clear doubts on agriculture and medicinal plants,” said Mr. Muthu Velayutham.
Madurai Kamaraj University Vice-Chancellor M. Krishnan, who inaugurated the first club, said study of herbs would be included as a vocational course in agriculture and allied streams.
CCD Director M. John Britto said their organisation had raised a herbal forest off Kariapatti. “Our Vaigai Flora Botanical Garden has over 1,000 varieties of herbs, spread across 48 acres in a dry deciduous forest area. We have been maintaining this facility for 24 years and it is now open to the public,” he said.
R. Haresh, Managing Director, TVS-Madurai, who helped establish the garden, and S. K. Barik, Director, National Botanical Research Institute, were present.
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