National Campaign to Promote Cultivation of Medicinal Plants

The value of herbs, shrubs, and trees in curing and preventing diseases is an ancient tradition that has been pushed to the background due to the modern allopathic drug system’s invasion. There is a worldwide awakening to return to traditional therapy utilising plants as a cost-effective option. To revitalize the ancient system of medicine, a continuous supply of genuine raw materials is essential.

The National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) under the Ministry of AYUSH is working to promote cultivation of medicinal plants. It recently launched a campaign to promote cultivation of medicinal plants in the country as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. 

Key highlights of the Campaign

• Cultivation of medicinal plants will be undertaken on 75,000 hectares of land in the next one year across the country.
• 7,500 medicinal plants were distributed to 75 farmers on this occasion. A target has been set to distribute 75 thousand saplings.
• The programme has been started from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh and Pune in Maharashtra.
• Medicinal plants were distributed to 150 farmers in Saharanpur. Some of them were: Night- flowering Jasmine (Parijat), Golden Apple (Bel), Margosa Tree (Neem), Indian Ginseng (Ashwagandha), and Indian Blackberry  (Jamun). 750 berry saplings were distributed separately to the farmers free of cost.
• The farmers already cultivating medicinal plants were felicitated.

Benefits

This campaign will give more impetus to the supply of medicinal plants in the country. This will help in increasing the income of farmers and realize the dream of Green India. It will make the country self-reliant in the field of medicines.

The market for medicinal plants has grown significantly in the last 1.5 years, not only in India but around the world. This is why Ashwagandha has been the third best-selling product in the United States.

Other programmes to be held

More events are being planned as part of the ‘Amrit Mahotsav of Independence.’ The ‘Y Break App,’ the distribution of prophylactic AYUSH medicines, ‘AYUSH Aapke Duaar,’ and a lecture series for school and college students are among the initiatives. On September 5, a speech series and webinars about the Y Break app will be presented.

About NMBP

On November 24, 2000, the Government of India established the National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) to promote the medicinal plants sector. Currently, the board is part of the Government of India’s Ministry of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha & Homoeopathy). 

The primary mission of the National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) is to create an effective mechanism for coordination among various ministries /departments/ organisations, as well as to implement support policies for the overall (conservation, cultivation, trade, and export) growth of the medicinal plants sector at the national, state, and international levels.

With this we come to the end of this blog. We covered all the points related to the campaign launched by NMBP to promote medicinal plants.

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