A common facilitation and wellness centre for cultivation of medicinal herbs with in-house ayurveda medicine practitioners and tribal healers will be set up in six months' time at the Araku valley by the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation (TRIFED) of India Limited. TRIFED managing director Jiji Thomson said procurement of 20 acres for setting up the facility had begun and the estimated cost for completion is Rs 10-20 crore.

The centre will house greenhouse for sustainable cultivation of medicinal plants and processing facilities for manufacturing finished medicines. "We will test the efficacy of the medicines in collaboration with research and development facilities of Indian Council of Medical Research and other national institutes," said Thomson at a two-day national dissemination workshop on findings of National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau's (NNMB) tribal surveys.

The second repeat survey conducted in ITDA areas in 2007-09 was released by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) secretary Dr. M.K Bhan at the workshop held on the premises of National Institute of Nutrition.

The survey revealed prevalence of Marasmus, a protein-energy malnutrition disease in infants, was the highest in tribal areas in Andhra Pradesh at 0.8 percent while the general prevalence in the country was recorded at 0.2 percent.

NIN director Dr. B Sesikeran, director general of ICMR, Dr. V.M Katoch, tribal welfare officials were present.