CIMAP RC Purara, the youngest centre of CIMAP, situated on the laps of Western Himalayas was established in 1995 in an area of 10 ha. It is located in Katyur valley of Bageshwar district of Uttarakhand. The centre aims to develop as a centre of excellence of MAPs of Himalayan region.

Centre Activities are collection, conservation, domestication and characterization of MAPs of Uttarakhand, R&D programme for agrotechnology development for hill region, especially Uttarakhand, Integrated soil fertility management in MAPs, Training, awareness, skill upgradation and field demonstrations for the farmers, SHGs, NGOs, State govt. and entrepreneurs, rural development by promoting medicinal and aromatic crop cultivation and technology dissemination through training and capability building, quality analysis of essential oils, industrial scale distillation of aromatic crops, field survey for cultivation of MAPs and feasibility studies and multiplication of elite plant propogules of medicinal and aromatic plants.

Irrigation facility was established and water was pumped up from nearby river. GC machine was installed for analyzing essential oil of various aromatic plants grown in Uttaranchal, a new laboratory building equipped with GLC and soil analysis instruments was inaugurated by Dr. Manju Sharma, Chairperson, Research Council CIMAP on 20 May, 2005. An area of 3.05 ha has been established as organic zone certified by Eco-Cert SA for Eco-Cert International, Northeim. A total of 4.5 ha area made cultivable by making long terraces. A road as a symbol of link between science and society through CIMAPs R&D was developed. Efficient protocol of saving geranium plants and cutting during monsoon season in Uttarnchal established (up to 90% survival), Geranium herb could be stored for 48 hrs prior to distillation without affecting the quanityty/quality of oil, Inclusion of MAPs under traditional cropping systems of Himalayan region were established and resulted in nearly 2-3 fold increase in the imcome to farmers using the technology developed by CIMAP RC, Purara. Crop rotation of geranium with potato, lahi, oat, pea etc showed up to 40% increase in income, Rose and Pyrethrum have been introduced successfully in Uttaranchal hills and the area of cultivation has been expanded to 12 acres and 4 acres of rose and pyrethrum respectively, Selection of high pyrethrin content(up to 1%) line of pyrethrum from plants growing in Uttarakhand. Slection of lines having 3% or more oil in Lavender has been introduced, high oil yielding variety of rosemary “CIM-Hariyali” has been released rich in 1,8 cineol and camphor with complete agro-package. Chemicals composition of the essential oil of Majorana hortensis, which has a lot of uses in flavour, Majorana hortenisis, which has a lot of uses in flavour, perfumery and pharmaceutical industry grown in Uttaranchal and GLC and GC-MS analysis, was done. The major constituents are found to be trans-sabinene hydrate (41.2%), terpinen-4-ol(18.5), cis-sabinene hydrate(9.3%), a-terpineol(3.8%), p-cymene(3.6%) and sabinene(3.0%). The major component of Majorana oil varied significantly with the change in temperature and light. Chemical profiling and antimicrobial activity of Rabdosia oil from Uttranchal hills has been done. The major components thymol and carvacrol content varied from 62.78-77.85%. Antibacterial activity of oil has been checked against 8 pathogenic bacterial strains representing Gram-positive as well as Gram-negative groups. The net zone of growth inhibition produced by these oils against the test bacteria was found to be in the range of 6-11 mm except the Gram-negative bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Seasonal variation in the essential oil yield and composition of Valeriana wallichi D.C. from Uttarakhand hills has been studied. The major components of the oil are patchouli alchol, seychellene, nor-patchoulenol, humulene oxide, iso valeric acid, α-patchoulene, bornyl acetate and β-elemene. Essential oil recovery was found maximum in the month of March(0.62%) followed by September(0.55%) and July(0.52%). Patchouli alcohol was found maximum during May(70.20%) and June (70.63%), while it was lowest(43.02%) in the month of October.

Technology dissemination, commercialization and utilization of geranium cultivation through processing and value addition of end products in Uttarakhand was carriedout at bio-village level(sponsored by Technology information, forecasting and assessment council (TIFAC). Under this project geranium was cultivated in over 46 farmers’ fields during 2001-2002 and nearly 20 liters of oil was produced and sold to industry @3500. Next year the area was extended to nearly 600 farmers with an area of 6 ha. A total of more than 100 kg oil was produced with the help of 6 units of 1000kg capacity, 4 with 500 kg capacity and 3 with 100 kg capacity distillation units installed at farmers field in 13 biovillages covering 6 districts of Uttarakhand. A rising sun shaped conservatory “Sampada” was established. More than 60 species of different MAPs were planted and established for conservation.

InfrastructureDevelopment  The institute has outreached its research innovation from lab to land and benefited numerous farmers in adopting different agro technologies of MAPs (geranium, rosemary, rose, pyrethrum, lemongrass and ocimum). Not only has the institute fascinated farmers, local villagers, researchers, NGOs, KVKs, SHGs, state govt. organizations, defence person and tourists, it has also attracted several dignitaries from all walks of life. Several politicians have visited the institute and have praised the work and the research conducted in this institute. The other dignitaries being the district and state level officers and others. They have not only visited the place but also took keen interest in the R&D and extension activities. The institute has also attracted several defence personnel’s from different localities of India. They visit the place quite frequently and are impressed by the way the institute has done research in MAPs and disseminated to the Uttarakhand people.