Experts urge development of local herb market
Experts have urged the development of local herb market so as to be able to tap from the global market estimated at over $5billion. The experts, including the President, Association
Experts have urged the development of local herb market so as to be able to tap from the global market estimated at over $5billion.
The experts, including the President, Association of Micro Entrepreneurs of Nigeria (AMEN), Prince Saviour Iche, the National President, Ginger Growers, Processors and Marketers Association, Florence Edwards and founder, Wholeeats Africa, Oluwakemi Jeje have called on Nigerians and Africans to return to their roots and harness the vast potential of the herbal industry, warning that the Western world continues to exploit the continent’s natural resources for profit.
The dried herbs sector alone is projected to reach $8.84 billion by 2032, up from $5.50 billion in 2024.
Speaking on the state of the industry, Iche lamented that foreign interests have been extracting valuable indigenous herbs at low prices, processing them into conventional medicines abroad, and selling them back to Africans at exorbitant rates.
“Most of what we call herbs today grow naturally here. The question is how we can turn these natural products into refined, market-ready solutions,” he said, emphasising the need for partnerships that can multiply both health and wealth by linking farmers, researchers, and innovators in a single ecosystem.
He added: “We, the Africans and the Nigerians, see the West exploiting us by taking most of these local herbs, extracting them into conventional medicines and bringing them back to us here for consumption.”
Citing specific examples, Iche mentioned ginger, aloe vera, and moringa as indigenous Nigerian plants with significant medicinal properties that have been commodified by Western pharmaceutical companies.
“If you check our ginger, our aloe vera, our moringa, just to mention a few, you will see that most of them have a lot of medicinal potential. The West takes them as very cheap raw materials, extracts and develops them, and still sends them back to us at exotic prices,” he said.
Edwards highlighted the surge in demand for Nigerian ginger, which is globally renowned for its spiciness. Experts have also recognised turmeric and ginger for their ability to inhibit inflammatory molecules linked to harmful viruses, owing to their anti-inflammatory component known as curcumin.
The dried herbs sector alone is projected to reach $8.84 billion by 2032, up from $5.50 billion in 2024. This expansion, representing a compound annual growth rate of 6.1 per cent over the forecast period, reflects fundamental shifts in consumer behaviour driven by rising health awareness, clean-label preferences, and the growing integration of herbs into traditional and alternative medicine systems.
Europe currently dominates the dried herbs market, supported by its mature food and beverage industry and substantial imports of oregano, rosemary, and bay leaves. However, the Asia-Pacific region is emerging as the fastest-growing market, bolstered by expanding pharmaceutical manufacturing and robust herbal medicine traditions. The fresh herbs sector presents a more complex picture, with supply and demand dynamics varying significantly by region. In Nigeria, the fresh herbs market reached $19.72 million in 2024 and is estimated to attain $33.26 million by 2033, growing at a steady rate of 5.96 per cent annually.
As the global herbs market navigates supply challenges, economic pressures, and evolving consumer preferences, industry participants remain cautiously optimistic about sustained growth driven by increasing health consciousness and the irreplaceable role of herbs in culinary and medicinal applications worldwide.
Last year, during World Food Day, experts discussed transforming Africa’s natural herbs into sustainable wellness solutions. The webinar assembled nutritionists, researchers, and entrepreneurs to explore how Africa can harness its vast agricultural resources to improve health outcomes and advance sustainable food systems on the continent.
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Nutrition and wellness experts called for deeper collaboration in transforming the continent’s natural herbs and foods into sustainable wellness solutions. They spoke during a virtual dialogue hosted by Wholeeats Africa, a wellness and food innovation organisation, as part of the World Food Day observance, which is marked annually to raise awareness about global hunger and the need for more inclusive, sustainable, and nutritious food systems. The theme for the year was “Hand in Hand for Better Foods and a Better Future.”
In her remarks, Jeje said the webinar aimed at creating pragmatic pathways for collaboration that would turn Africa’s herbal and food resources into viable wellness innovations.
“There has been a lot of abuse of herbs, whereas we are supposed to benefit from them,” she said. “We can’t calculate how much loss that has brought in terms of chronic illnesses and preventable deaths. Africa is one of the richest continents when it comes to herbs, and I desire that we integrate this into our system.”
An Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology at the University of Lagos, Dr. Margaret Ilomuanya, stressed the need for scientific validation of local herbs to boost their global acceptance.
“Our local herbs have immense therapeutic value, but we need more research to prove efficacy and standardise them for global markets. India and China built global trust in their natural products because they documented and presented their research to the world. Africa must do the same,” she said.
