PM: Ngoc Linh ginseng needs protection as national brand
The brand of Ngoc Linh ginseng needs protection as a national one, said Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at a conference on developing Ngoc Linh ginseng and other medicinal herbs in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum on September 6.
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The Government leader said Ngoc Linh ginseng, which is dubbed as a national treasure, could become a source of national livelihood in different aspects, whether job generation or State budget contribution.
He raised the question on how to help Vietnam’s herbal medicines and health products join the global playground, and set the target of earning billions of US dollars in production and export values from those products in the next decades. Phuc added that the target is feasible given the high growth rate forecast for the international ginseng market.
To that end, it requires prompt and organized actions to assist Kon Tum and central Quang Nam province where Ngoc Linh ginseng is being planted, in implementing their ginseng development strategies, PM Phuc said.
He emphasised the need to raise the values of Ngoc Linh ginseng, both economically and medically, protect its purebred gene, and develop geographical indication for the medicinal herb.
“Popularising Ngoc Linh ginseng does not mean lowering its values, but developing it as a high-end product,” the President said.
The Ngoc Linh ginseng (Panax vietnamensis, or Vietnamese ginseng), a rare medical root containing 52 saponin compounds helpful to health, was found on Ngoc Linh Mountain on the boundary between Kon Tum and Quang Nam in the late 1960s.
Besides saponin, Ngoc Linh ginseng contains 17 amino acids, 20 trace minerals and 0.1% of attar. The ginseng has high effects in anti-stress and anti-aging conditions. It helps improve immunity, enhance liver function, and lower cholesterol. Besides, it also works well with antibiotics and diabetes medications.
Ngoc Linh ginseng is one of the world’s most precious ginsengs. It has been approved as a national product under the Prime Minister’s Decision 787/QD-TTg.
Nine communes Tu Mo Rong and Dak Glei districts of Kon Tum province have received geographical indication certificates for Ngoc Linh ginseng with a total area of about 400 hectares.
Meanwhile, Quang Nam province has also set forth a project on Ngoc Linh ginseng development by 2020 and has another project on Ngoc Linh ginseng preservation by 2030 approved by the Prime Minister.
