The State Horticulture Mission should conduct a massive campaign to create awareness on importance of medicinal plants, Agriculture Minister Mullakkara Retnakaran has said.
“The importance of medicinal plants should be popularised. At least, one member in every family should have a thorough knowledge about the use of minimum 10 medicinal plants,” the minister said during the state-level launching of the ‘National Mission on Medicinal Plants’, the Centre-sponsored scheme of the National Medicinal Plants Board to support the cultivation of medicinal plants, at the Kanakakkunnu Palace in here on Saturday.
The State Horticulture Mission - Kerala is the nodal agency for implementing the programme in the state during the 11th Five-Year Plan period with a total outlay of Rs 49.27 crore. Out of this, Rs 13 crore has been sanctioned for the current financial year.
The mission seeks to integrate cultivation with pre and post-harvest activities such as development of nurseries for quality planting materials, cultivation of medicinal plants, support for post-harvest management, marketing, improvement of marketing infrastructure, organic certification, quality assurance and crop insurance.
“The mission will give assistance for the commercial cultivation of 29 species of medicinal plants at a subsidised rate of 20 percent, 50 percent and 75 percent to crops of high demand, endangered and highly endangered species respectively,” said State Horticulture Mission director K Prathapan.
This include Tulsi, Tinospora, Clitoria, Asparagus, Red Sandalwood, Long pepper, Caesalpinia, Neem, Garcinia, Andrographis, Oroxyllum, Hemidesmus, Petrocarpus, Boerhaavia, Aloe vera, Gmelina, Cinnamomum, Sandalwood, Terminalia, Brahmi, Phyllanthus, Belliric myrobalan, Aegle marmelos, Acorus calamus, Ashokam, Terminalia Arjuna, Rauwolfia, Amla and Arni. “As part of the programme, the State Horticulture Mission will support the farmer groups for signing an MoU with various medicinal manufacturers for buy-back of identified and specific species on an agreed terms and conditions,” he said.
Mullakkara Retnakaran also inaugurated the two-day national seminar on ‘Promotion of Cultivation and Marketing of Medicinal Plants’. Scientific and proper cultivation, collection and preservation of medicinal plants will ensure the quality and availability of raw materials for manufacturing medicines, said Ayurvedic Medicine Manufacturers Organisation of India (AMMOI) general secretary D Ramanathan while presenting a paper on ‘Integrated Approach to Development of Herbal Drug Industry’.
“Owing to the non-availability of quality raw materials, sub-standard materials are used for manufacturing ayurvedic medicines. This results in low quality of medicines. The lack of awareness of the correct raw material is another factor. Often similar looking materials are used mistakenly in place of a particular plant.
“To overcome this, a proper and scientific plan should be devised to promote cultivation of medicinal plants integrating all sectors including government departments, research departments, doctors, traditional practitioners, vaidyas and educational institutions,’’ Ramanathan said.
G R Jayakumar, Research Officer, Poojappura Ayurveda Research Centre, and B R Reghunath, professor, Vellayani Agricultural College, presented papers on ‘Identification of Important Medicinal Plants’ and ‘Conservation of Rare, Endangered and Threatened Species of Medicinal Plants’ respectively.
Mayor C Jayan Babu, V Sivankutty MLA, State Medicinal Plants Board chief executive officer H Nagesh Prabhu, Director of Indigenous Medicines Anitha and around 150 persons from various farmer groups also attended the function.