Govt to promote cultivation of medicinal plants to meet needs

New Delhi, Apr 18 (UNI) Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Panabaka Lakshmi today called for strategies and action plans focusing on conserving and enriching the existing medicinal plants biodiversity in forest and promoting their cultivation by farmers to meet the growing needs of Indian Systems of Medicine.

Inaugurating the Orientation and Capacity Building workshop for the CEOs of State Medicinal Plant Boards on 'Strategies for Conservation and Cultivation of Medicinal Plants' here today, Ms Lakshmi said this two- pronged approach would not only ensure that the medicinal plants collected by tribals and other forest dwellers for their livelihood were made available to AYUSH industry but also that farmers were able to cultivate medicinal plants as an alternative crop.

She said forests were the main repository of rich biodiversity and have contributed to more than 90 per cent of the medicinal plants used for manufacture of Ayurvedic, Unani and Siddha medicines.

However, the growing demand for herbal products globally is putting unsustainable pressure on forests leading to depletion of the plants biodiversity threatening the very survival of a number of medicinal plants species, she regretted.

During the last 5-6 years, the National Medicinal Plants Board has taken a number of initiatives and supported programmes for conservation and cultivation. However, one of the major constraints noticed was the absence of proper infrastructure and manpower with the Board.

She said creation of posts for the National Board may be considered, the State Governments also need to strengthen State Medicinal Plants Boards by posting full time CEOs and identifying appropriate Government Departments to implement the scheme.

The two-day workshop has been organised by the National Medicinal Plants Board in collaboration with Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions. It seeks to discuss the important initiatives and thrust areas that are proposed to be pursued during the 11th Plan and review the progress achieved by the State Medicinal Plants Board in preparation of strategy paper and action plan.

The State Forest Departments will also have to play a key role in conservation and development of medicinal plants in forest areas through Joint Forest Management.

The workshop was also attended by Ms Anita Das, Secretary in Department of AYUSH, Mr Sajwan, Chief Executive officer, National Medicinal Plants Board and Dr Darshan Shankar from the FRLHT, Bangalore.

UNI