Dzedokha village in Loggchina Gewog under Chhukha produces balm and liniment oil using the essential oil of Zingiber cassumunar. It is a species of plant in the ginger family. For the production of the balm and liniment oil, a facility was inaugurated on Monday.
It took nearly six years to officially inaugurate the facility. People in Dzedokha have been producing Zingiber Cassumunar, locally known as phacheng since their forefather’s time. They grew it on a small scale for medicinal purposes.
After four years of research and cultivation trials, the national biodiversity centre finally launched the products with a trademark “Zhinor”, last year. It is a UNDP Global Environment Finance funded project.
Zhinor balm and Zhinor liniment oil has anti-inflammatory properties and can cure joint and muscle pains.
“We clean the phacheng, dry it and put it in the machine to extract the oil. We then store the oil and use ingredients such as sunflower oil, coconut oil, beeswax, peppermint oil, and lemongrass to make balm and liniment oil,” Suk Bdr. Rai, the operator of the facility, said.
From 20 kilogram of phacheng, 700 millilitre of oil can be extracted. Locals have already started earning Nu 80,000 from the sale of Zingiber cassumunar.
“In 2014, when the project started, the committee members, 50 of them could only produce 15 kilograms of Phacheng. Now, in the last six years, they produced 1,600 tons. People are really showing interest in it,” Birkha Bdr. Limbu, the Loggchina Mangmi, said.
“We received good feedback from other countries. In the US, our products have even cured bedridden people. It has received good feedback from Germany too. Japanese are interested to do a research on it too,” Mani Prasad Nirola, the Sr. Biodiversity Officer of National Biodiversity Centre, said.
The entire village is a member of Dzedokha Phacheng Detshen and 18 of them are trained in the production. Currently, three of them operate the facility.
Sonam Penjor
