LAGOS – The Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) on Wednesday said that Nigeria had a lot of herbal products yet to secure the desired patronage.
A NEPC Trade Officer, Mr William Ezeagu, made the observation in Lagos at the HERBFEST 2014 – a herb, health food and natural product Expo — organised by the Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the agency organised the event in collaboration with the Bio-resources Development and Conservation Programme and the Federal Institute for Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO).
The International Center for Ethno-Medical and Drug Development is among the organisers.
Ezeagu said, “In Nigeria, we have so many products but they are not getting the patronage that they deserve.’’
Ezeagu urged value addition to herbal products to enhance their purchases.
He said that the quality, packaging and branding of a product would give it a focus and the attention it would need for recognition.
The NEPC officer urged herbal medicine practitioners to have a good consumer service and self-helpline for their products to attract the desired monetary value.
“Packaging is a means of ensuring safe delivery of a product to the consumer.
“In labeling, the self-helpline must be on the product,’’ he said.
He said that the Natural Health Product (NHP) industry was still developing, noting that the export trade was usually informal.
Ezeagu said that the production, processing and marketing of herbal products in Nigeria was not well controlled as ethical product claims were rarely verified.
According to him, optimising the climate advantage of producing a plant drug was the basis for remedy in a herbal product. (NAN)
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