The plan will ensure that 250 acres in the Seoni and Balaghat regions in Madhya Pradesh, India, will be dedicated to over 166,600 Indian kino trees, which has been declared ‘near threatened’ on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.
According to the company, this is the first attempt to conserve “this high value threatened tree species in India.”
Under the new initiative, the forest department of the state of Madhya Pradesh will provide land, while reforestation organization Madhya Pradesh Rajya Van Vikas Nigam Limited will manage cultivation and maintaining of the plants for at least five years. After this period, the trees are self-sustaining.
Tree’s use for functional benefits
The tree has been used in South Asia’s Ayurvedic tradition as a medicine to control blood sugar by drinking a water extract of Indian kino, obtained either by soaking pieces of the wood in water overnight or utilizing a tumbler carved from that wood filled with water.
Sabinsa’s parent company Sami Labs Limited has invested in research to explore the plant’s functional health benefits. Most recently, the company funded a rat-model study published in the Journal of Dietary Supplements supporting the extract’s blood sugar management properties.
“As our research on Pterocarpus marsupium extract confirmed traditional usage and we began to anticipate future demand for the extract, we became concerned that demand could quickly decimate available supplies,” said Shaheen Majeed, Sabinsa’s worldwide president.
“The cultivation will not only help us have a sustainable supply, but will preserve this traditional plant in India.”