A study, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry this week (13 February), found that growing Artemisia Annua (Chinese Wormwood) fertilizer-poor "acidic soils with a mild potassium deficiency" * increased the yield of artemisia by 20 per cent.

Synthesizing artemisia in the lab produces yields lower than four per cent, so the plant is the only commercial source of the compound.

This could lead to cheaper drugs, as well as benefiting small-scale farmers who have no choice but to grow their crops in poor soils.

The economic gains are clear for farmers who could make "savings in potassium, gains in artemisia production", said the study's author, Jorge Ferreira of the US-based Appalachian Farming Systems Research Center. Pedro Melillo, a horticulturalist from the State University of Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil, welcomed the news saying potassium is one of the most expensive fertilizers in Brazil.

He told SciDev.Net that the cultivation method could help develop a strategy for using Artemisia Annua as a traditional herbal tea to tackle malaria for poor communities who cannot access or afford to pay for anti-malarial products developed by the pharmaceutical industry.

Reference http://www.scidev.net/News/index.cfm?fuseaction=readNews&itemid=3417&language=1
(* prospects for growing Wormwood in Kenya are excellent)

LIGHTHOUSE MISSIONS
Medical Conference - Nairobi, Kenya
June 2007