Lok Sabha Question No. 565 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-09
Subject: Medicinal Plants
Ministry: AYURVEDA,YOGA & NATUROPATHY,UNANI,SIDDHA AND HOMEOPATHY (AYUSH)
Asked by: Parvesh Sahib Singh, Sunil Baburao Mendhe

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AYUSH

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 565 TO BE ANSWERED ON 09 TH  DECEMBER 2022

## MEDICINAL PLANTS

## 565. SHRI PARVESH SAHIB SINGH VERMA : SHRI SUNIL BABURAO MENDHE :

Will the Minister of AYUSH be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware of depleting medicinal plant resources and if so, the  reasons  therefor  and  the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  address  this problem;
- (b) the quantity of Medicinal plants and herbs produced in the country particularly in Maharashtra during the last three years;
- (c) the financial assistance provided to promote the farming of Medicinal plants and herbs during the said period, State/UT-wise;
- (d) the  quantity  of  Medicinal  plants  exported  from  Maharashtra  during  the  said period;
- (e) the steps taken to promote production of Ayurvedic and herbal medicines in the country particularly in Maharashtra;
- (f) whether  the  Government  encourages/proposes  to  encourage  the  farmers  for cultivation of Medicinal plants under any scheme, if so, the details thereof; and
- (g) the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  promote  the  emerging  nutraceutical industry?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF AYUSH (SHRI SARBANANDA SONOWAL)

- (a) Yes Sir. The Government is aware of depleting medicinal plant resources in the country. The  reasons  for  depletion  of  medicinal  plant  resources  are  unsustainable  collection  / harvesting of these resources from the wild and destruction of their natural habitat.

To address this problem, the Ministry of Ayush, Government of India under its 'Central Sector Scheme on Conservation, Development and Sustainable Management of Medicinal Plants' is providing project based support to State Forest Department for in- situ  conservation  by  way  of  establishing  Medicinal  Plant  Conservation  Development Areas (MPCDAs) and Resource Augmentation by way of plantation in Forest areas and ex-situ plantation outside designated forest areas.

- (b) Ministry  of  Ayush,  Government  of  India  had  implemented  'Centrally  Sponsored Scheme'  of  National  Ayush  Mission  (NAM)  to  promote  the  cultivation  of  medicinal plants  since  2015-16  to  2020-21.  Under  'Medicinal  Plants'  component  of  the  National Ayush Mission (NAM)  Scheme, market driven cultivation of 140 prioritized medicinal plants  in  identified  clusters/zones  was  supported  and  implemented  in  a  mission  mode through  selected  State  Implementing  Agencies  throughout    the  country  including  the State of Maharashtra. As per the scheme guidelines, the support was provided for:
- (i) Cultivation of prioritized medicinal plants on farmer's land.
- (ii) Establishment  of  nurseries  with  backward  linkages  for  raising  and supply of Quality Planting Material.
- (iii) Post-Harvest Management with forward linkages.
- (iv) Primary processing, marketing infrastructure etc.

During last three year, under 'Medicinal Plants' component of National Ayush Mission (NAM),  the  Ministry  of  Ayush  had  supported  15,150  hectare  area  for  cultivation  of medicinal  plants  throughout  the  country  including  State  of  Maharashtra.  The  detail  is given at Annexure - I.

- (c) The  Ministry  of  Ayush  had  provided  an  amount  of  Rs.  4181.45  lakh  to  promote  the farming of medicinal plants and herbs under 'Medicinal Plants' component of National Ayush  Mission  (NAM)  scheme  throughout  the  country.  The  state-wise  and  year-wise detail of fund approved/released for cultivation of medicinal plants under National Ayush Mission (NAM) scheme is given at Annexure - II .
- (d) As per data received from Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence & Statistics (DGCIS)  under  Ministry  of  Commerce  &  Industry,  the  State-wise  export  data  are compiled by DGCIS on the basis of State Codes reported by the exporters in the shipping

bills  with  the  custom  authority.  The  export  of  Ayush  and  herbal  products  from Maharashtra during last three years is at Annexure - III.

- (e) Ministry of Ayush has implemented Central Sector Scheme AYUSH Oushadhi Gunvatta Evam Uttpadan Samvardhan Yojana (AOGUSY) including Maharashtra. The objectives of the Scheme are as under :
- i. To enhance India's manufacturing capabilities and exports of traditional medicines  and health promotion  products under the initiative of Atmanirbhar Bharat.
- ii. To facilitate  adequate  infrastructural  &  technological  upgradation  and institutional  activities  in  public  and  private  sector  for  standardization, quality manufacturing and analytical testing of Ayush drugs  & materials.
- iii. To  strengthen  regulatory  frameworks  at  Central  and  State  level  for effective quality control, safety monitoring and surveillance of misleading advertisements of Ayush drugs.
- iv. To  encourage  building  up  synergies,  collaborations  and  convergent approaches  for  promoting  standards  and  quality  of  Ayush  drugs  & materials.

The  components  of  the  AYUSH  Oushadhi  Gunvatta  Evam  Uttpadan  Samvardhan Yojana (AOGUSY) are as under :

- A. Strengthening and up-gradation of Ayush Pharmacies and Drug Testing Laboratories to achieve higher standards.
- B. Pharmacovigilance of ASU&H drugs including surveillance of misleading advertisements.
- C. Strengthening  of  Central  and  State  regulatory  frameworks  including Technical  Human  Resource  &  Capacity  Building  programs  for  Ayush drugs.
- D. Support for development of standards and accreditation/ certification of Ayush  products  &  materials  in  collaboration  with  Bureau  of  Indian Standards  (BIS),  Quality  Control  of  India  (QCI)  and  other  relevant scientific institutions and industrial R&D Centres.
5. (f) To  encourage  the  farmers  for  cultivation  of  medicinal  plants,  the  National  Medicinal Plants  Board  (NMPB),  Ministry  of  Ayush  under  its  Central  Sector  Scheme  for Conservation, Development  and Sustainable  Management  of Medicinal Plants is providing  financial  assistance  to  Regional  Cum  Facilitation  Centres  (RCFCs),  State Government  and  Non-Government  Organizations  (NGO)  for  development  of  Quality Planting Material (QPM) / saplings of Medicinal Plants and their distribution to farmers. In addition, from time to time, various training programms / workshops also supported to impart trainings to farmers for Cultivation of medicinal plants.
6. (g) Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) is an autonomous R&D organization involved  in  Research  and  Development  in  varied  areas  of  science  including  medicinal plants.  CSIR  laboratories  specially  CSIR-IHBT,  CSIR-NEIST,  CSIR-CFTRI,  CSIRNIIST, CSIR-CIMAP are involved in developing nutraceuticals through Mission Mode program  implemented by CSIR.  The  nutraceutical industries both emerging and established  ones  are  encouraged  for  commercial  development  of  the  nutraceutical developed by CSIR as well as industry in a collaborative mode. Industry meets are also carried out in this direction by the CSIR labs involved in nutraceutical development from herbals.

Details  of  area  supported  under  cultivation  of  medicinal  plants  through  National  Ayush Mission scheme from the financial year 2019-20 to 2020-21.

(Area in hectare)

| S. No.   | State             |   2019-20 |   2020-21 |   Total |
|----------|-------------------|-----------|-----------|---------|
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh    |      1338 |         0 |    1338 |
| 2        | Arunachal Pradesh |        44 |        98 |     142 |
| 3        | Bihar             |       175 |         0 |     175 |
| 4        | Goa               |        30 |         0 |      30 |
| 5        | Himachal Pradesh  |        70 |         0 |      70 |
| 6        | Jammu &Kashmir    |        28 |        25 |      53 |
| 7        | Karnataka         |       353 |      1100 |    1453 |
| 8        | Kerala            |         0 |       330 |     330 |
| 9        | Madhya Pradesh    |       790 |      4270 |    5060 |
| 10       | Maharashtra       |       520 |         0 |     520 |
| 11       | Manipur           |        30 |         0 |      30 |
| 12       | Meghalaya         |       108 |         0 |     108 |
| 13       | Mizoram           |         6 |        29 |      35 |
| 14       | Nagaland          |         0 |       210 |     210 |
| 15       | Puducherry        |         5 |         0 |       5 |
| 16       | Punjab            |       340 |         0 |     340 |
| 17       | Rajasthan         |       760 |         0 |     760 |
| 18       | Sikkim            |         0 |        58 |      58 |
| 19       | Tamil Nadu        |       900 |         0 |     900 |
| 20       | Telangana         |       341 |         0 |     341 |
| 21       | Uttarakhand       |       208 |         0 |     208 |
| 22       | Uttar Pradesh     |         0 |      2236 |    2236 |
| 23       | West Bengal       |       748 |         0 |     748 |
| TOTAL    | TOTAL             |      6794 |      8356 |   15150 |

Details of fund approved/released for cultivation of medicinal plants under National Ayush Mission scheme from the financial year 2019-20 to 2020-21.

(Rs. in lakh)

| S.No.   | State             |   2019-20 |   2020-21 |    Total |
|---------|-------------------|-----------|-----------|----------|
| 1       | Andhra Pradesh    |   220.408 |     0     |  220.408 |
| 2       | Arunachal Pradesh |    26.255 |    59.5   |   85.755 |
| 3       | Bihar             |    74.487 |     0     |   74.487 |
| 4       | Goa               |     9.742 |     0     |    9.742 |
| 5       | Himachal Pradesh  |    54.444 |     0     |   54.444 |
| 6       | Jammu &Kashmir    |    18.288 |    21.539 |   39.827 |
| 7       | Karnataka         |   114.673 |   359.881 |  474.554 |
| 8       | Kerala            |     0     |   101.112 |  101.112 |
| 9       | Madhya Pradesh    |   287.873 |   853.736 | 1141.61  |
| 10      | Maharashtra       |   285.356 |     0     |  285.356 |
| 11      | Manipur           |    15.829 |     0     |   15.829 |
| 12      | Meghalaya         |    31.526 |     0     |   31.526 |
| 13      | Mizoram           |     0.954 |    10.304 |   11.258 |
| 14      | Nagaland          |     0     |    75.482 |   75.482 |
| 15      | Puducherry        |     0.783 |     0     |    0.783 |
| 16      | Punjab            |    66.154 |     0     |   66.154 |
| 17      | Rajasthan         |   327.848 |     0     |  327.848 |
| 18      | Sikkim            |     0     |    40.989 |   40.989 |
| 19      | Tamil Nadu        |   260.995 |     0     |  260.995 |
| 20      | Telangana         |    65.748 |     0     |   65.748 |
| 21      | Uttarakhand       |   133.595 |     0     |  133.595 |
| 22      | Uttar Pradesh     |     0     |   503.012 |  503.012 |
| 23      | West Bengal       |   160.933 |     0     |  160.933 |
| TOTAL   | TOTAL             |  2155.89  |  2025.56  | 4181.45  |

Annexure - III

## Export of Ayush and herbal products from Maharashtra during FY 2019-20 to FY 2021-22

|             |                           | 2019-20        | 2019-20                | 2020-21        | 2020-21                | 2021-22        | 2021-22                |
|-------------|---------------------------|----------------|------------------------|----------------|------------------------|----------------|------------------------|
| State       | Commodity                 | Quantity (Kgs) | Value (in million USD) | Quantity (Kgs) | Value (in million USD) | Quantity (Kgs) | Value (in million USD) |
| Maharashtra | Ayush and herbal products | 14559431       | 62.930857              | 15733567       | 71.815499              | 12873201       | 61.941434              |