The Business of Humanity® Project is excited to announce a partnership with the National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai, and Safe World LLC to begin the creation of an Ayurvedic Manufacturing Assistance Center (AMAC) in the Pauri Garwhal, HaryaliSain in India.
Ayurvedic medicine is an alternative medicine system, focusing on naturopathy, with roots in India that have existed for over two millennia. Ayurvedic medicine includes a range of treatments including yoga, massage, acupuncture, herbal medicines and special diets which help encourage a healthy lifestyle.
The objective of the project is to reverse urban migration and provide farmers with meaningful and sustainable jobs with potential for micro-entrepreneurship in the Uttarakhand region.
A major problem in this region is that thousands of fields in Uttarakhand are lying fallow because current crops do not provide a sustainable income to farmers. As a result, there are 1,700 abandoned villages in Uttarakhand. This number is expected to rise to 3,000 in the next five years.
Along with our partners, we hope to leverage the rich ecosystem of the lower Himalayas (that abound with wild and cultivated medicinal herbs and berries), to provide a meaningful income to the local population. We propose to establish a traditional Ayurvedic Manufacturing Assistance Center (AMAC) for small batch production.
The project will initially utilize 5 staff members (1 office worker + 4 daily processers), and eventually work with an estimated 500-1000 male and female farmers to cultivate raw materials from farms and local forests. The AMAC will process these raw materials to specifications that can be packaged and marketed.
The AMAC will utilize semi-automatic equipment for small-batch processing. It is important to note that there are no manufacturing operations in the 30+ sq. km catchment area of the project. This condition is echoed in about 90% of 25,000 sq. kilometers of Uttarakhand state where 2000+ villages are in a state of near abandonment due to poverty-driven urban migration. It is our belief that the AMAC will help alleviate this issue by providing employment to villagers, establishing a wraparound workforce development model.
Proposed Project Steps & Timeline:
- Identify 5 products that can be sourced locally and processed. (NITIE study)
- Identify and train 5 key staff members and also 5 potential families who agree to stay locally to supply the AMAC with raw materials.
- Install processing and packaging equipment (0-6 months)
- Establish annual harvesting schedule for Minor Forest Produce (MFP) (with assistance from NITIE) (3-15 months)
- Establish the following in Pilot-batch runs (6-18 months)
- Quality manufacturing protocols (6-18 months)
- Enhance workforce skills (6-18 months)
- Establish robust supply chains for products (NITIE study)
- Establish distribution channels for these products (NITIE study)
Projected Outcome: The Pilot Project’s vision is to stem rural to urban migration and transform the community through self-reliance by engaging with 500-1000 watershed farmers. As Ayurvedic food supplements and products also need dairy and organic farm produce, the project will jumpstart the region’s integrated, organic and sustainable development. A series of “ancillary” activities including collecting pine needles (for packaging), wild MFP herbs, traditional coarse grains, commercial rosemary, lemon-grass, camomile, and herbs farming, will also assist in the development of micro-ventures.
Please return to this page for future updates about the Ayurvedic Manufacturing Assistance Center (AMAC)!