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A medicinal plant processing center is where medicinal plants are brought after harvest. There, the plants undergo a specific series of treatments (washing, drying, milling) and preparations (packaging and labeling) and are then warehoused in a clean, controlled environment which will protect them from the risk of contamination and/or deterioration. This is where all necessary qualifications for a commercial foodstuff are met before packaging in order to ensure that the final product has the desired quality, size, purity and, in particular, the water content required for pricing specifications or customer standards.

THE REGIONAL PROCESSING CENTERS WILL BE THE DOORWAY TO THE WORLD MARKET OF MEDICINAL & NUTRACEUTICAL PLANTS.

A processing center for medicinal and nutraceutical plants is essential infrastructure that will:

1 - ensure the quality and traceability of plant material after harvest to meet international standards of quality assurance. To achieve this, the ecopreneurs will have to successfully apply the knowledge they have gained through their theory classes.
2 - meet the specific needs of customers in the international market, which may require different methods of extraction, drying and form (whole or partial plants, or ground/milled plants).
3 - demonstrate to future producers, and to local organizations, the feasibility the industrial cultivation of medicinal plants with a commercial perspective.

Without a processing center built according to guidelines that ensure the quality of treatment performed, and thus the quality of the plant material processed, the invesments made in the growing and harvesting are lost. It is through this structure of ‘production-to-processing’ that candidates will develop a sustainable market economy that will meet the needs of local communities while contributing to the economic and social development of the region.

The First Model is in the Luki Biosphere Reserve

The Luki Biosphere Reserve is located in the Mayumba forest, in the Bas-Congo region, and is one of three Biosphere reserves in the DRC recognized by UNESCO. It is located between the ports of Boma and Kinshasa, about 120 km from the Atlantic Ocean. Home to 1,500 plant species including monocotyledons and dicotyledons, the Biosphere covers 33,000 hectares and features a primary subequatorial forest surrounded by secondary forests, savannas and agroforestry farms. About 7,000 people live in the Luki Reserve and another 65,000 live in the surroundings. The population pressure on natural resources is very strong in Bas-Congo. Outside the reserve there is not much forest and, unfortunately, even the Reserve is threatened by illegal logging (for fuel and construction timber), and by forest fires, hunting, and fishing.

The first processing centre for medicinal plants to be built in DRC will be on the Luki Biosphere Reserve. It will serve as the base for an entrepreneurial school integrated into the BDA Foundation’s training program that will enable African agri-entrepreneurs to not only improve their skills in cultivation, harvesting, and processing medicinal plants, but also to develop their management skills. This arrangement of production-to-processing will allow the candidates to develop a sustainable international market economy that will also satisfy local needs and contribute to economic and social development in the regions.

Canadian engineers from PRÉCI (a Montreal-based center for international cooperation in science and technology) supervised the construction of this first regional processing center. The construction started in September 2009 and this first treatment center will be the model for the construction of several other regional treatment centers across the country and the African continent.