National Medicinal Plant  Board

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FACTS ABOUT MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC PLANTS

·        The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 4 billion people around the world use herbal medicines for their primary health care. In South Asia alone, Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, Chinese, Amchi, and homeopathic traditional healing approaches make use of about 9000 plant species.

·        At least 25 percent of drugs used in modern pharmacopoeia are derived from plants.

·        The demand for medicinal plant-based raw materials is growing at 15-25 per cent internationally

·        According to a World Health Organization estimate, the present demand for medicinal plants is about $14 billion a year and is likely to grow to $5 trillion by 2050. Medicinal plant-related trade in India is estimated to be around Rs 550 crore per year.

·        The domestic market of Indian Systems of Medicine & Homoeopathy is of the order of Rs.4000 crores per annum, which is expanding day by day. The Ayurveda drug market alone is of the order of Rs. 3500 crores.

·        It is estimated that the export earnings from medicinal and aromatic plants would be raised to Rs.3000 crores annually by 2005. India, with its diversified biodiversity has a tremendous potential and advantage in this emerging area.

  IMPORTANCE

Medicinal plants as a group comprise approximately 8000 species and account for around 50 per cent of all the higher flowering plant species of India. The diverse climatic conditions of India is suitable for cultivation and especially medicinal plants which has helped in finding of the Indian Systems of Medicine (ISM) which is slowly developing into a form of alternate medicines globally. With increase in the demand for alternative health delivery systems, the demand for the raw material, chiefly comprising of medicinal plants is also on the rise. The market of medicinal and aromatic plants is very much skewed in terms of realization at the source against the payment made by the end-user. Apart from the asymmetry in distribution of proceeds amongst different market participants at various levels, there are many issues like unsustainable harvesting practices, presence of informal sector, backward and forward linkages of the herbs and herbals product markets, poor market infrastructure etc.

ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED

• Developing extensive cultivation programmes involving small and marginal farmers, tribals and women as beneficiaries.
• Management of wild medicinal plant resources.
• Development of a strong and high-quality knowledge base for the sector.
• General lack of strategic focus in the bulk of current socio-economic research and policies with regard to agro-technology, biotechnology, and the like, which would assist in defining higher standards of quality on medicinal plants in India.
• Need for increased ethno botanical / pharmacological surveys.
• Largest part of the trade occurs in the informal sector, and is absent from official statistics and trade catalogues.
• Fluctuation of prices between planting and harvesting.