Lok Sabha Question No. 861 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-14
Subject: Production and Processing of Herbs
Ministry: AYURVEDA,YOGA & NATUROPATHY,UNANI,SIDDHA AND HOMEOPATHY (AYUSH)
Asked by: RAMESH POKHRIYAL NISHANK

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AYURVEDA, YOGA & NATUROPATHY, UNANI, SIDDHA AND HOMOEOPATHY (AYUSH)

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION NO. 861 TO BE ANSWERED ON 14 TH DECEMBER, 2018

## PROD UCTION AND PROCESSIN G OF HERBS

## 861. DR. RAMESH POKHRIYAL 'NISHANK':

Will the Minister of AYURVEDA, YOGA & NATUROPATHY, UNANI, SIDDHA AND HOMOEOPATHY (AYUSH) be pleased to state:

- (a) whether any special schemes are being run by the Ministry for the production and proc of herbs in Himalayan States of the country including Uttarakhand;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the farmers have been provided any training and marketing facilities required same thereunder; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF AYURVEDA, YOGA & NATUROPATHY, UNANI, SIDDHA AND HOMOEOPATHY (SHRI SHRIPAD YESSO NAIK)

(a) to (d): Yes, presently, the Ministry of AYUSH is implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme  of  National  AYUSH  Mission  (NAM)under  which  there  is  a  component  on 'Medicinal  Plants'  which  primarily  aimed  at  supporting  market  driven  cultivation  of medicinal plants on farmer's land with backward linkages through establishment of nurse ries for supply of quality planting material and forward linkages for post - harvest management, processing, marketing infrastructure etc. The cultivation of medicinal plants is supp providing  subsidy  @  30%,  50%  and  75%  of  cost  of  cultivation  to  farm ers  through  the identified  implementing  agency  of  concerned  states  throughout  the  country  includ Himalayan States covering state of Uttarakhand. As per NAM scheme guidelines, t he fund under this component is shared in the ratio of 60:40 between Central and State Government whereas it is in the ratio of 90:10 in North East & Hilly Regions States and financed 1 Central Government in Union Territories (UTs). Under the flexi component of NAM scheme, the provision has also been made for supporting activ ities of Marketing Infrastructure and providing Trainings to farmers.

NMPB  under  its  Central  Sector  scheme on ' Conservation,  Development  and Sustainable Management of Medicinal Plants' alsoprovide the financial assistance for

Awareness  Building Exposure  Visits,  Education  and  Capacity  Building  of  Stakeholders ( Training , Buyer Seller Meet etc .) through Information and Education as per guidelines.

The NMPB, Ministry of AYUSH through Directorate of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Research (DMAPR), Ana nd, Gujarat has developed a Training Module and Facilitation Guide to technically train the resource persons / farmers about Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) and Good Field Collection Practices (GFCPs) for medicinal plants. In this regard, total 50 Maste r Trainers have been trained by DMAPR to impart training for farmers.

The  National  Medicinal  Plants  Board  ( NMPB),  Ministry  of  AYUSH  and  Centre  for Development  of  Advanced  Computing  (C -DAC)  have  been  jointly  developed  'e -CHARAK' mobile  application  as  well as  web  portal  for  the  promotion  and  marketing  of  medicinal plants/herbs. The 'e -CHARAK' an e -channel for Herbs, Aromatic, Raw material and knowledge is  a  platform  to  enable  information  exchange  between  various  stakeholders  mainly  far involved  in  the  me dicinal  plants  sector  across  the  country.  The  'e -CHARAK'  application supports  different  local  languages  and  it  also provides  fortnightly  market  price  of  100 commodities from 25 herbal markets across the India for awareness of farmers/traders/manufacturers/ collectors. F or awareness and promotion of 'e -CHARAK' application  as  well  as  web  portal  across  the  India,  the  NMPB,  Ministry  of  AYUSH collaboration with C - DAC also organise seminars in different part of the country.

In addition, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research ( CSIR) has launched two mission viz. Aroma Mission and Phyto - pharmaceutical Mission. The Aroma Mission is aimed at increasing  the  area  under  cultivation, processing  and  post - harvest  management  of  location specific, market oriented high value aromatic cash crops for the socio -economi  upliftment of the farmers. The Phyto- pharmaceutical Mission is aimed at conservation, mass scale production and processing of important location specific medicinal plants ( MAPs ) to be utilized as raw material for development of drugs from plant origin. The states covered under these missions include Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu &Kashmir, Nagaland and Assam. Provision of training and skill development is integral part of the both missi ons for quality control, production and processing of herbs.

………………….