Kerala minister for forests, Binoy Viswam today stressed the need for tightening patent laws with a view to protecting patents of Ayurveda medicinal plants that originated in the country several thousand years ago.

He was inaugurating the medicinal plants garden of the State-owned Pharmaceutical Corporaation (IM) Kerala Limited (Oushadhi) here.

He said during the last four years, 25 lakh tree saplings and medicinal plants were distributed through the schools and other educational institutions of which about 85 per cent was growing well he said adding, 1.5 crore trees were grown during the period.

He said that Kerala government's scheme 'MY Tree', started four years ago, was accalimed at national level as one of the best programmes initiated under the social forestry scheme.

Viswam said that the state was rich with over 4800 plants of which 900 were medicinal plants.

Over 300 medicinal plants were facing extinction.

Those who spoke included P C Chacko, MP and Dr H Nagesh Prabhu, Oushadhi's managing director.