Lok Sabha Question No. 700 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-07-26
Subject: Promotion of Cultivation of Medicinal Plants
Ministry: AYUSH
Asked by: Shri Balashowry Vallabhaneni

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AYUSH

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 700 ANSWERED ON 26/07/2024

## 'Promotion of Cultivation of Medicinal Plants'

## 700. Shri Balashowry Vallabhaneni:

Will the Minister of AYUSH be pleased to state:

- (a) whether it is a fact that the Government has stopped promoting cultivation of medicinal plants from 2020-21 and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether there are enough medicinal plants in the country to meet the domestic requirements as well as for exports in the country, if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether  it  is  a  fact  that  the  National  Medicinal  Plants  Board's  Central  Sector  Scheme  on Conservation, Development and Sustainable Management of Medicinal Plants does not cover cultivation prioritized medicinal plants on farmers' land, their primary processing, marketing infrastructure and other components and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether  the  Government  consider  the  mandate  of  the  above  scheme  to  promote  and  grow medicinal plants; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF AYUSH (SHRI PRATAPRAO JADHAV)

(a) No, Sir. National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), Ministry of Ayush, Government of India is implementing Central Sector Scheme on 'Conservation, Development and Sustainable Management of Medicinal Plants' wherein following activities are supported:

- (i) Information Education & Communication (IEC) activities like Training / Workshops / Seminars/ Conferences etc. for promotion of cultivation of medicinal plants.
- (ii) Establishment  of  nurseries  to  raise  the  planting  material  for  cultivation  of  medicinal plants.
- (iii) Forward  and  backward  linkage  in  supply  chain  of  medicinal  plants  (Integrated Component).
- (iv) In-situ conservation / Ex-situ conservation.
- (v) Livelihood linkages with Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs) / Panchayats / Van Panchayats / Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) / Self Help Groups (SHGs).

- (vi) Research & Development.
- (vii) Promotion, marketing and trade of medicinal plants produce.

However, in the past, Ministry of Ayush, Government of India had implemented Centrally Sponsored  Scheme  of  National  Ayush  Mission  (NAM)  to  promote  the  cultivation  of  medicinal plants from the financial year 2015-16 to 2020-21. 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 forwarding linkages.
- (iv) Primary processing.
- (v) Marketing infrastructure etc.

(b) Yes, Sir. NMPB supports demand and supply study from time to time and had conducted an extensive survey and compiled a book entitled 'Medicinal Plants in India: An Assessment of their Demand and Supply' during the year 2017, The classical Indian healthcare systems, however, as per the study continue to be largely dependent upon wild collected herbal raw material with nearly 85% of  the  species  diversity  and  more  than  70%  of  the  volumes  of  herbal  raw  drugs  consumed  being sourced from the wild. The annual demand of herbs / medicinal plants in the country was estimated about  5,12,000  Metric  Tones  in  2014-15.  Further,  as  per  this  study,  about  1178  medicinal  Plant species recorded in practices of trade, out of which 242 species are traded in high volume with an estimate of more than 100 MT per annum. The details are available at: https://nmpb.nic.in/sites/default/files/Projects/Medicinal\_Plants\_in\_India\_An\_Assessment\_of\_their\_ Demand\_and\_Supply.pdf

Further,  as  per  the  second  advance  estimate  of  financial  year  2023-24  (Statistics  Division, Ministry of Agriculture &amp; Farmers Welfare) an area of 7,42,000 hectare has been covered under cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants with production of 6,45,000 MT.

Data  for  Export  of  medicinal  plants  is  not  maintained  at  NMPB,  however,  the  trade  of medicinal plants as recorded under Ch-12 of HS-Code 1211 is given below:

Values in US $ Million

|   S.No |   HS Code | Commodity                                                                                                                       |   2023-24 |   2024-2025(Apr-Apr) |
|--------|-----------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------|----------------------|
|      1 |      1211 | PLNTS AND PRTS OF PLNTS INCLD SEDS AND FRUTS USD FOR PRFUMRY PHRMACY/INSCTCIDL OR SMLR PUR FRSH /DRID, CHLD / FROZW/N CUT CRSHD |    486.84 |                92.19 |

Source:-  https://tradestat.commerce.gov.in/eidb/ecom.asp

(c) Yes, Sir. It is a fact that the National Medicinal Plants Board's Central Sector Scheme (CSS) on  Conservation,  Development  and  Sustainable  Management  of  Medicinal  Plants  does  not  cover cultivation  prioritized  medicinal  plants  on  farmers'  land,  their  primary  processing,  marketing infrastructure and other components. However, the 'Forward and backward linkage in supply chain of medicinal plants' - Integrated Component has been added during the financial year 2023-24 in the Central Sector Scheme on 'Conservation, Development and Sustainable Management of Medicinal Plants' under which there is a provision for financial assistance for following activities:

-  Infrastructure for Quality Planting Material to raise the planting material of medicinal plants for cultivation.
-  Information Education Communication (IEC) activities to aware the farmers.
-  Infrastructure for Post-Harvest Management and Marketing to increase the marketability of the  medicinal  plants,  adding  value  to  the  produce,  increasing  profitability  and  reducing losses.
-  Quality Testing and Certification of raw material.

Till  date,  National  Medicinal  Plants  Board  (NMPB),  Ministry  of  Ayush  has  approved  04 projects  under  Integrated  Component  to  the  Andhra  Pradesh,  Jammu  &  Kashmir,  Mizoram  and Uttarakhand for an amount of Rs. 442.50 lakh. The detail is given at Annexure - I .

(d) & (e) Yes, Sir. The mandate of the Central Sector scheme of NMPB to promote and grow of  medicinal  plants  are  fulfilled  through  IEC  activities  such  as  Awareness  Building  Program, Exposure  Visits,  Education  and  Capacity  Building  of  Stakeholders.    During  the  last  five  year, NMPB, Ministry of Ayush has approved 127 numbers of projects for various IEC activities to aware the  array  of  stakeholders  including  farmers  about  different  aspects  of  medicinal  plants  like conservation, cultivation, post-harvest management and marketing with the approved budget of Rs. 1143.54 lakh.  Under the same scheme, NMPB, Ministry of Ayush has approved 82 no. of projects for establishment of nurseries to raise the planting material for cultivation of medicinal plants with the approved budget of Rs. 1972.31 lakh from the financial year 2019-20 to 2023-24. The detail is given at Annexure-II.

**********

The  detail  of  projects  approved  under  'forward  and  backward  linkage  in  supply  chain  of medicinal plants' - Integrated Component of  Central Sector Scheme (CSS) for conservation, development and sustainable management of medicinal plants from the financial year 2023-24 to till date.

| S.No.   | State          |   Amount approved (Rs. in lakh) |
|---------|----------------|---------------------------------|
| 1       | Andhra Pradesh |                           120   |
| 2       | Jammu &Kashmir |                            82.5 |
| 3       | Mizoram        |                           120   |
| 4       | Uttarakhand    |                           120   |
|         | Total          |                           442.5 |

The  details  of  projects  approved  under  Central  Sector  Scheme  (CSS)  for  conservation, development  and  sustainable  management  of  medicinal  plants  to  different  organizations throughout country for IEC activities and Establishment of nurseries from the financial year 2019-20 to 2023-24.

(Rs. in lakh)

| S. No.   | State             | No. of Projects approved under CSS (2019-20 to 2023-24)   | No. of Projects approved under CSS (2019-20 to 2023-24)   | No. of Projects approved under CSS (2019-20 to 2023-24)   | No. of Projects approved under CSS (2019-20 to 2023-24)   |
|----------|-------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------|
| S. No.   | State             | IEC activities                                            | Amount Approved                                           | Nurseries                                                 | Amount Approved                                           |
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh    | 3                                                         | 34.00                                                     | 2                                                         | 100.15                                                    |
| 2        | Arunachal Pradesh | 0                                                         | 14.20                                                     | 1                                                         | 18.90                                                     |
| 3        | Assam             | 8                                                         | 141.14                                                    | 5                                                         | 373.55                                                    |
| 4        | Chhattisgarh      | 0                                                         | 0.00                                                      | 1                                                         | 18.90                                                     |
| 5        | Delhi             | 14                                                        | 126.34                                                    | 9                                                         | 149.75                                                    |
| 6        | Goa               | 0                                                         | 0.00                                                      | 2                                                         | 7.35                                                      |
| 7        | Gujarat           | 1                                                         | 17.00                                                     | 3                                                         | 47.25                                                     |
| 8        | Haryana           | 3                                                         | 9.00                                                      | 2                                                         | 37.80                                                     |
| 9        | Himachal Pradesh  | 1                                                         | 22.58                                                     | 4                                                         | 117.48                                                    |
| 10       | Jammu &Kashmir    | 5                                                         | 42.00                                                     | 1                                                         | 18.38                                                     |
| 11       | Jharkhand         | 3                                                         | 11.80                                                     | 0                                                         | 0.00                                                      |
| 12       | Karnataka         | 6                                                         | 109.90                                                    | 3                                                         | 38.7375                                                   |
| 13       | Kerala            | 5                                                         | 30.50                                                     | 4                                                         | 40.30                                                     |
| 14       | Ladakh            | 2                                                         | 10.00                                                     | 0                                                         | 0.00                                                      |
| 15       | Madhya Pradesh    | 7                                                         | 70.40                                                     | 2                                                         | 88.10                                                     |
| 16       | Maharashtra       | 9                                                         | 76.92                                                     | 7                                                         | 176.60                                                    |
| 17       | Manipur           | 2                                                         | 17.20                                                     | 2                                                         | 118.90                                                    |
| 18       | Meghalaya         | 1                                                         | 5.00                                                      | 0                                                         | 0.00                                                      |
| 19       | Mizoram           | 1                                                         | 5.00                                                      | 4                                                         | 50.30                                                     |
| 20       | Nagaland          | 0                                                         | 0.00                                                      | 1                                                         | 3.125                                                     |
| 21       | Odisha            | 9                                                         | 28.25                                                     | 5                                                         | 69.675                                                    |
| 22       | Puducherry        | 0                                                         | 0.00                                                      | 1                                                         | 5.00                                                      |
| 23       | Punjab            | 7                                                         | 94.00                                                     | 3                                                         | 109.45                                                    |
| 24       | Rajasthan         | 3                                                         | 11.00                                                     | 1                                                         | 18.90                                                     |
| 25       | Sikkim            | 0                                                         | 0.00                                                      | 1                                                         | 18.90                                                     |
| 26       | Tamil Nadu        | 17                                                        | 79.80                                                     | 1                                                         | 18.90                                                     |
| 27       | Telangana         | 1                                                         | 10.00                                                     | 7                                                         | 83.55                                                     |
| 28       | Uttar Pradesh     | 9                                                         | 92.51                                                     | 3                                                         | 74.05                                                     |
| 29       | Uttarakhand       | 5                                                         | 40.00                                                     | 3                                                         | 29.9625                                                   |
| 30       | West Bengal       | 5                                                         | 45.00                                                     | 4                                                         | 138.35                                                    |
| Total    | Total             | 127                                                       | 1143.54                                                   | 82                                                        | 1972.31                                                   |