A road map has been prepared to cultivate herbs on a large scale across Himachal Pradesh.
“Under the new herbiculture plan, 37 herbal and aromatic species of medicinal plants have been selected,” said a spokesman of the state government. “Farmers will be able to earn good profit by cultivating these varieties of herbs from their small land holdings,” he said.
The state horticulture, forest and ayurveda departments will be involved in the programme to help farmers grow herbs on private land, forests and herbal gardens. “The government is also providing technical assistance to people and cooperative societies for the purpose.The produce will then be supplied to the pharmaceutical companies for manufacturing both ayurvedic and allopathic medicine,” the official said.
Having the country’s 7.23 per cent bio diversity Himachal has a varied Himalayan flora with around 3,500 species of plants, of which 800 species are rich in medicinal value and 165 are collected for commercial purpose.
The total cultivable wasteland in the state is about 123,000 hectares and growing of herbs will go a long way in strengthening the economy of the state.
The state government recently entered into an agreement with Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Yogapeeth for bulk supply of herbs to provide ready market to farmers.
Himachal is already the largest supplier of chilgoza, dioscoria, dhoop, picrorrhiza, valerians and ephedera in the country.
Herbal gardens have already been developed in different climatic zones to motivate farmers.These gardens are set up at Jogindernagar,Neri,Rohru, Shimla and Jungal Thalera.
