The rich experience of human interaction with nature has provided contemporaries with a huge baggage of knowledge about plants with medicinal properties.
Thanks to this, traditional medicine began to form. Despite the fact that today more and more drugs made on a chemical basis have begun to be produced, people have little confidence in them.
At the same time, there is an increasing interest in natural recipes, and hence in medicinal herbs, which, when used correctly, produce an excellent healing effect. Naturally, for medicinal herbs, the cultivation of which is possible in greenhouses, appeared in pharmacies, it is necessary for someone to do this.
Currently, about one hundred and sixty types of medicinal plants are known that are approved for use. That is why the sale of medicinal herbs with its good organization for many has become a source of income.
Grass business
Natural remedies are used for both indoor and outdoor use. The first category includes infusions, decoctions, water-alcohol tinctures and extracts. In the second - herbal baths, body wraps, lotions, compresses.
For both categories, medicinal plants are used as raw materials. Therefore, in many pharmacies and relevant retail outlets that have permission, they sell medicinal herbs, among which there are special anti-asthma or diuretics, breast, as well as choleretic or sedative and many other fees.
Such popularity is due not only to low price and safety, but also to the possibility of prolonged use of these drugs in combination with other drugs.
Growing herbs as a business is cost-effective. Processing of this natural raw material brings considerable income due to the low costs required for equipment, as well as the constant demand for this type of product.
Production technology
The full production cycle of medical fees consists of the following stages: growing the raw material itself, assembling it, then drying and processing, subsequent packaging and sale of medicinal herbs.
For cultivation, it is better to organize a plantation. This will require the availability of land, as well as equipment. Need to purchase seeds and fertilizers. Such production as a form of business has many advantages: firstly, you can get controlled volumes of plants, in addition, raw materials are always available.
However, for beginners, it is better at the first stage to simply purchase raw materials from special collectors, then subject them to further processing and pack them in packaging for herbs. This is explained by the fact that the growing process requires certain costs, as well as knowledge in the technology of production of medicinal plants. True, when buying raw materials, you must have an idea of all varieties of herbs, exercise caution, carefully checking the fees.
Raw material processing
Producers of herbal preparations should know that the quality of plant raw materials is determined by special GOST 24027.2-80. In addition, there are special organizations involved in the study of natural products. The State Sanitary and Epidemiological Supervision and the Center for Metrology and Standardization, as well as some laboratories operating in pharmaceutical plants, are engaged in this.
An incomplete process of processing herbs occurs as follows.First, the raw materials are sorted and cleaned of impurities and decayed parts, and then sent to the dryer, which is a way of conservation. The natural method involves placing plants in a ventilated area in the shade.
Thus, all active substances and its color are maximally preserved in the raw material. For machine drying, the mode corresponding to the composition of a particular plant is selected: herbs rich in essential oils are dried at a temperature of up to thirty degrees.
Signs of the end of drying are a characteristic crack when the rhizomes are broken, as well as the possibility of grinding leaves of grass and grass into powder, and dry flowers to the touch. At the same time, well-dried fruits should not clump into lumps during compression.
The loss of mass of raw materials is eighty for leaves and berries, seventy for flowers, sixty for grass, buds and rhizomes, and forty percent for bark.
Marketable condition
Dried plants then fall into the grinders of medicinal herbs. The size is regulated by a special sieve, based on the purpose of the plant variety. For example, for bathtubs and poultices, raw materials are cut into pieces of no more than two millimeters, and some parts of medicinal plants generally pass this stage during processing. These are seeds, flowers, berries and small inflorescences.
Then, the crushed raw materials fall into the mixer, in which the charges are prepared, where some components with essential oils are added to the mass by spraying, then it is dried at a temperature of about sixty degrees.
In addition to the usual grinding and mixing, there are other methods of processing plant herbs, such as the production of aromatic oils and obtaining dry extracts. These methods of production require expensive equipment, but bring a good income.
Packaging
Herbs are usually sold in cardboard boxes. Healing fees are packaged in fifty, one hundred and two hundred grams. Cardboard boxes, according to the requirements, must be lined with parchment paper. Sometimes grass is placed in a double paper bag.
Raw materials that have not yet been packaged should be stored in dry, ventilated rooms, with little moisture, in unopened bags, paper and cloth bags, boxes, drawers, lined with clean white paper, or jars.
You need to pack herbs only according to their purpose: for example, “for colds” or “for coughs”, “for good sleep” or “for kidneys”, etc. For the right combination of herbs according to medicinal prescriptions in production, the presence of a specialist phytotherapist is required. As containers at the initial stage of production, when there is still no income, the use of ordinary resealable plastic bags is allowed.
Equipment purchase
For the production of medicinal herbs, the following equipment is necessary, which is the main part of the investment: a drying machine, mixer, grinder, vibrating screen and packaging machine. The initial investment required to purchase equipment at a medium-sized business can be about one and a half million rubles.
Staff and premises
In addition to the land intended for growing raw materials, it is necessary to have an enclosed space in which medicinal herbs and fees will be produced. It should include both the production area and the laboratory in which the recipes will be determined, as well as quality control. In addition, a storage area is needed. The total area of these premises with an average scale of production should be from three hundred square meters.
The personnel should consist of an operator working on equipment, as well as at least one qualified employee with a pharmaceutical, chemical or biotechnological education.A prerequisite for them should be strict adherence to hygiene rules, as well as passing periodic medical examinations, wearing overalls.
Paperwork
By law, the production and sale of medicinal herbs are subject to mandatory licensing.
It is necessary to conduct accreditation of the laboratory, as well as certification of its production with further approval of production technology in the Pharmaceutical Committee and obtain permission from the SES and from firefighters.
Those who have a sale of medicinal herbs in their business plan should register for their products with the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Health. On average, the design of the entire package of documents can take up to one hundred and fifty thousand rubles.
Marketing
For Russians, treatment with fees is an ineradicable tradition, so the plants themselves do not need advertising, however, you still have to spend money on brand promotion. Herbs should be sold taking into account the popularity of one or another species. A positive factor for sales will be the production of charges in convenient and functional packaging, for example, in filter bags or in small boxes.
