Searching for Herbal CERPA?
Go to: www.cerpaindia.org/.

This CERPA site was live between approximately 2005-2009. It was created to promote and provide pertinent information about the producers, and producers / manufacturers of herbal product in India. In addition they wanted to facilitate e-marketing of medicinal plants and herbal products.

CERPA India now has a new website: www.cerpaindia.org/. You can go there to see all their latest news and information.

When the domain of herbalcerpa.org expired the site disappeared from the WWW. I was alarmed. As someone with strong ties to India, and to the culture of natural foods, I viewed this disappearance as a great loss. Recently I discovered that the domain was available, so I bought it - really had no plan, just did not want someone else to purchase the domain and re-purpose it with something that had nothing in common with the original website. Fast forward a couple of years and I learn about the Web Archive Project. My company's SEO consultant, Bob Sakayama is on the WAP board. They finance grants to archive historically significant web documents. He helped me apply and the project was accepted. The WAP awarded the grant to finance this restoration. Bob's company, TNG/Earthling, contributed the technical work and I just edited some content. Hope to add more as I discover it. I also wanted to point visitors who inadvertently ended up here to the current website for CERPA India.

I particularly like the fact that CERPA has a network of 250 grass root level NGOs, spread over several States in India for implementing various developmental programs. They presently have sponsors, supporters both from within India and internationally.

I wonder if some sponsor would be able to provide charitable eyeglasses and replacement lenses services to the the disadvantage and poor in the various states of India. The thought occurred to me while I was opening up the package that contained new eyeglass lenses that I recently ordered online at Eyeglasses.com. The lenses were available in all the major categories from plastic and polycarbonate, to high index, Trivex and even glass lenses, in prescription and non-prescription, and even custom made eyeglass lenses. This particular site uses a lens' manufacturer based in the US. Ordering was easy and convenient, saving me lots of time and the inconvenience that would be spent having to drive several hours into the city from where I live. Obviously the poor of India do not have access to internet services in their own homes. But if there were a center in the local village that did have internet service, and IF someone were to set up an online business in India with lenses made by an India manufacturer that was similar to the one I used here in the US, it could be possible. It might be worth investigating by one of their state government agencies or by an independent sponsor.

Some of the information on this old site is definitely dated, but their goals are still the same. I think additional exposure on the Internet is an advantage to CERPA and since they are an ongoing effort, I hope to promote their good work.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS PAGE CONTAINS SELECTED ARCHIVED CONTENT FROM THE ORIGINAL SITE.

 

The Main Objectives of This Web Portal:

  • Providing plant related details in terms of botanical and chemical properties. In addition, providing relevant economic data such as availability, price, demand exports / imports etc.
  • Providing pertinent information about the producers, and producers / manufacturers of herbal products, with their company's size, amount of products and such other details they may wish to have on this website.

 

We also want to provide information about:

  • Importers and exporters of herbal plants and products available in India as well as abroad;
  • Herbal Gardens
  • The research and training organizations who are currently working in the area of herbal plants/products, along with their capabilities and interests'
  • Extension service providers with their areas of specialization
  • Relevent herbal related testing laboratories with their specializations and capabilities
  • Other information which may be of interest to various parties in the herbal sector marketplace.

 

We want to facilitate e-marketing of medicinal plants and herbal products by:

  • Bringing together providers/ collectors of medicinal and herbal plants and their buyers both in India and abroad
  • Linking manufacturers of herbal products with potential buyers both in India and abroad.

To present such other information as be of interest to various collaborator such as Central and State level medicinal plant Boards, NABARD and other banking institutions, Centre and State Institutes working in herbal sector marketplace, various associations of manufacturers of herbal products, collectors and cultivators of plants, companies who transport and market herbal plants, machinery and equipment manufacturers catering to herbal plants growers and the companies who produce herbal products, and similar other particioants with interests in the development of herbal sector.

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An Article of Interest

Uttaranchal Reads a Path Less Traveled
Source:
20th December 2003
The Hindu

Selling organic farming to cultivators is child's play compared to making inroads into the export market. The team steering Uttaranchal into the 'organic' zone knows this. So, even as it courts foreign buyers and takes small steps into that market, Binita Shah of Uttaranchai Organic

Commodities Board is clear that the initial focus is the domestic market. "We are not running to foreign markets at the moment," says Shah. "We are focusing on the domestic market and have tied up with agencies." For instance, within six months, 2,000 families in Delhi could be joining 'box schemes'-getting a range of organic items, with some others thrown in, at a small premium. At a small level, sales have already taken off in Bangalore. Fab India and KVIC have shown interest. Brand promotion, rather than the premium, is the focus right now.

State chief secretary R. S. Tolia accepts that his state is inflicting on itself a harsher regime of agricultural production, with benchmarks on quality and food safety that can be difficult to maintain. Within the state, the four month old Board is pushing an internal control system. The most difficult task, however, will be external inspection by international accredited agencies to get the prized organic certification, which could yield a premium on crops.

Uttaranchal has tied up with the Institute for Market ecology, which offers verification and certification services. Given the fragmentation of land holdings-the average being 0.5 hectares- individual farmers can't hope to make a difference in production or pay for certification which can be as much as Rs. 2,000 to 3,000 a day, apart from travel costs and documentation. So, there is a need to look at regions, not farmers, to get viable production numbers. And, naturally thereafter, look at the concept of group certification. About 1,650 farmers have been put through the external inspection, says Shah. But whether group certification would eventually be acceptable in a market like Europe remains to be seen. For the moment, there is buyer support-and assistance-for a transition phase, certification, import procedures and other barriers. About 40 tons of rice is heading to Germany. There is a proposal from Japan on millet for baby food. "We expect the impact to show in 2005," says Shabo But there is a lot to do.

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ABOUT CERPA

The Center for Research, Planning & Action (CERPA) was established in 1972 and registered in 1978. CERPA is a Research, Training & Consultancy Organization. CERPA is accredited to UNECOSOC (United Nations Economic and Social Council) and is approved by UNESCAP Centre of Excellence for Human Resource Development and Training.

The Centre is a Research, Training & Consultancy Organization recognized by Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt. of India as an R & D Institution. CERPA is accredited to UNECOSOC (United Nations Economic and Social Council) and an approved UNESCAP Centre of Excellence in HRD.

The Centre is covered u/s 12 (A) of Income Tax Act! as a Trust, u/s 35 (i) (iii) of Indian Income Tax Act as a Research and Development Organization and under Foreign contribution Regulation Act, 1976 (FCRA) by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India by which it has prior permission of the GOI to receive grants from organizations/agencies abroad interested in its objectives.

CERPA is member of the CDC (Consultancy Development Centre), sponsored and supported by DSIR (Department of Scientific and Industrial Research), Govt. of India.

CERPA is also a permanent member of Indian Association of Social Science Institutions (IASSI) New Delhi, an association of about 100 Universities and 120 Research Institutions.

 

OBJECTIVES

The broad objectives of CERPA are to conduct social science research, provide consultancy on developmental issues, help other **NGOs in Action research and provide policy inputs in HRD/ Welfare/ other social issues. It also provides charitable services to disadvantaged and poor of the country by taking up project implementation at grass root level either, directly or through local NGOs.

This includes:

  • Undertaking research and evaluation studies on socio-economic issues;
  • Preparing and implementing action projects and try out innovations in field through experimental action programs;
  • Providing consultancy on matters of program management;
  • Undertaking educational / training activities and assist in effective implementation of developmental programs;
  • Helping identify vulnerable groups through charitable activities such as - education, medical relief, credit financing and other acts of general public utility and welfare, including support by way of income generating activities.

 

**A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an organization that is neither a part of a government nor a conventional for-profit business. The organization is usually set up by ordinary citizens. NGOs may be funded by governments, foundations, businesses, or private persons.
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