Income generation through medicinal and aromatic plant cultivation: A review

Introduction

Aromatic plants come in Medicinal plants category and collectively they are known as Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAP). These are plants, which provide medicines or help in preservation of health. In India, Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha medicines are of huge demands. According to the World Health Organization, "a medicinal plant is any plant which, in one or more of its organs, contains substances that can be used for therapeutic purposes, or which are precursors for phyto pharmaceutical semi synthesis". World Health Organization (WHO) reported that medicinal and aromatic plants used worldwide is counted as 20,000. While 4000 drugs are widely used, there are currently more than 2000 medicinal plants are traded in the world and 500 in western Europe (Anonymous, 2017) [4] .

Economic Potentials of MAPs

The demand for medicinal plants in India, to meet both domestic and export market, comprising of 162 species, is expected to increase at about 15 to 16% between 2002 and 2005 (CRPA, 2001). Evidence shows that the total domestic potential for crude drugs and oil extracts in India is worth Rs 3 billion, of which the requirements of over-the-counter products (K.M. Singh, Abhay Kumar, R.K.P. Singh and Ujjwal Kumar, 2013 ) [10] .

Status in India

Area and production data of medicinal and aromatic crops was collected for a period of 2005-06 to 2015-16. The area under these crops has increased over year with the annual growth rate of 1.12 percent per annum (Shilpa P Chowti, Shreeshail Rudrapur and Naik BK, 2018) Cultivation of medicinal and aromatic crops has increased from 2, 62, 000 hectares during 2005-06 to 6, 33, 900 hectares in 2015-16. A drop in area was observed during 2013-14 (4, 93, 300 ha) and again it has increased to 5, 07, 800 hectares during 2014-15. Rajasthan is having highest area under these crops with a share of 56 percent (average 3, 03,630 ha) followed by Uttar Pradesh (25%). Other major states were Madhya Pradesh (11%), Tamil Nadu (2%), Punjab (2%), Chhattisgarh (2%), Andhra Pradesh (1%) and Bihar (1%). In case of production, Madhya Pradesh ranks first with a share of 44 percent and Rajasthan ranks second with a share of 19 percent. The states like Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Arunachal Pradesh were having a share of 16 percent, 8 percent and 7 percent respectively. Opportunities of Aromatic plants cultivation 1. It is realized now that perfumes and essential oils are not the articles of luxury as they were in the past. The demand for essential oils is increasing day by day with the advancement of education and prosperity in the country. 2. The search for natural resources has been intensified as synthetics have failed to provide versatility and a situation of saturation and later stagnation started developing. Improved instruments and chemicals also and thus helped in the search for new aromatic compounds. 3. Natural essential oils have the potential of being very safe insecticides. One good example in this regard is of the essential oil obtained from Acorus calamus which has asarone as an active principle, and produces sterility among a variety of insects of either sex. It has been found very effective and safe for the storage of food grains. 4. Their spent waste can be converted into boards and can be used as a mulching material or ploughed back into the soil to improve its tilth. 5. Most of these raw materials are produced in the tropics, in the developing countries of Asia and Africa from where they go to Europe and the USA for use in the manufacture of perfumery chemicals, cosmetics, food flavours and a host of other consumer products which, in turn, are distributed all over the world. (Rakesh Kumar, Ajay K. Singh Amit Kanawjia, 2023) [11]

Marketing of medicinal and aromatic Plants

Value-chain embodies an important change in development and the relationships among producers, processors, traders, and consumers (Devaux et al, 2018) [7] . There are two key marketing channels involved in the marketing of this crop. Channel I was producer to a local trader to industry, and channel II was producer to processor to industry. Most of the aromatic plants are marketed through the channel I, and only one-fourth of the produce is marketed through channel II (Suresh et al., 2012) [12] . Lack of proper marketing information, pest and disease problems, higher cost of cultivation, and fluctuation in market price, low price which are major challenges faced by producers during the crop production and marketing phase, lack of a minimum support price, lack of a regulated and organized market ( [3, 5, 2, 15, 6, 14] . To understand the farming system and the success of the value chain of the plants, a thorough financial feasibility and technical study are required (Alam and Belt, 2009) [1] .

Conclusion

The major commonality of the Indian classical and the folk health care traditions is their dependence upon the raw material derived from a large diversity of plant species, which is estimated to be about 6,500. India is blessed with varied climatic condition which is suitable of growing diverse medicinal and aromatic crops but not much expansion in cultivation of these crops was observed.

Demand for medicinal plants is expand rapidly in future, and fuelled by the growth of sales of herbal supplements and remedies. The key benefits of medicinal plants cultivation for farmers are improved access to local markets, assured markets and prices (lower risks) especially for nontraditional crops, assured and often higher returns, and enhanced farmer access to production inputs, mechanization and transport services, and extension advice.

References

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