Producers, practitioners and marketers, as well as researchers in natural medicine will on Thursday, October 12 to Saturday, October 14, 2023, gather in Owerri, Imo State, for the yearly herbal festival tagged ‘HerbFEST’.

HerbFEST is a natural product expo/symposium that promotes the use of natural products, herbal medicine, complementary and alternative medicine.

Foremost pharmacognocist and Chairman, Bioresources Development and Conservation Programme (BDCP), Prof. Maurice Iwu, said the overall goal of HerbFEST is to showcase our achievements, research results, rich biodiversity and investment opportunities to the world and enhance the patronage/recognition, productive capacity and income status of small producers.

BDCP, makers of Interceed Health Products (IHP), is the main organiser of the event

Iwu said it is designed to provide an interactive platform for scientists, traditional healers, and natural products manufacturers to review developments in herbal medicinal products.

The 14th edition of HerbFEST 2023, is themed ‘Medicinal Plants for Economic Development’ with the following sub-themes: ‘Diminishing plants genetic resources of Nigeria’. ‘African traditional medicine standards as a tool for economic development’. ‘Conservation of medicinal plants. ‘Role of herbal medicine and medicinal plants in primary healthcare’.

Iwu said there will also be a session on clinical dialogue on phytotherapy.

He said HerbFEST 2023 will be held as a hybrid event (a blend of virtual and physical seminar) in Owerri, Imo state.

According to Iwu, speakers at the event include: Prof. Kasim Musa Waziri; Prof. Martins Emeje, Director General (DG)/Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Natural Medicine Development Agency (NNMDA), Victoria Island, Lagos; Prof. Baderinwa Sunday Adewale; former DG NNMDA, TF Okujagu; Prof. Ibrahim Hussani Doko; and Dr. Christopher Okunji.

Iwu said: “BDCP is a not-for-profit, non-governmental, knowledge-based organization dedicated to sustainable utilisation and conservation of biological resources.

“Founded in Nigeria in 1991, the organisation has country programmes and offices in several countries in Africa as well as a Washington DC office in the United States.

BDCP’s focus is on sustainable utilization and conservation of biological resources through innovative management and technical support for grass-roots sustainable development projects with special emphasis on projects that promote health, sustain biodiversity, utilize natural products and support traditional healers. Traditional healers, a major custodian of the biodiversity and ethnomedicinal knowledge, are integrated into all projects, resulting in truly unique grass roots efforts.

“The result of this work has been the creation of a successful drug development and biodiversity conservation programmes, where reciprocity and capacity building are central to the process.”

Iwu said the ‘biggest herbal and natural medicine expo in Africa will focus on African medicinal plants, their ethnomedical uses and potential therapeutic applications in the management of various diseases.