BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to meet the increasing demand for the ayurvedic formulation ‘Dashamularishta,’ the Forest Department has embarked on a massive exercise to regenerate plant root barks of which are used by the herbal drug producers for formulation.
The Department has proposed to grow the plants in 360 hectares over the next five years. Dashamula in Sanskrit denotes combination of two words - ‘dasha’ (ten) and ‘mula ’ (roots). As per the ancient ayurvedic scriptures, combination of roots of 10 plants are beneficial to alleviate a number of common disorders. That’s one reason why it is in such a high demand in the State.
Interestingly, annual demand for these roots in the State stands at 35 tonne though collection is prohibited.
How drug formulators manage to collect roots remains a poser.
There are about 200 local licensed pharmacies which produce the herbal drug to meet the demand in the State. Since distribution of these plants is sporadic, the market is highly unorganised.
Traders resort to clandestine collection at places, while some source it from neighbouring states like Chhattisgarh where the roots find their way from Orissa.
“‘We realised that in view of such huge demand for the medicinal plants, the species need to be re-generated so that it can be made available for industry purposes,” Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Suresh Chandra Mohanty said.
Of the 10, five roots belong to large trees called ‘brihad panchamoola’ and the rest, roots of shrubs are called ‘laghu panchamoola.’ The Forest Department is mandated with growing large tree species under a resource augmentation project of the National Board of Medicinal Plants.
Since collection of root barks mean destruction of plants, the Forest Department has identified 360 hectare of fallow, degraded forests where cultivation could be taken up in joint forest management mode. Work has commenced in Angul, and would soon be taken up in Balangir, Jharsuguda and Bargarh.
“It’s one of the two mega projects the national board has sanctioned to the State. The project cost would be to the tune of Rs 3.5 crore,” Mohanty said.
Once carried out successfully, the project could attract investors.