Increase in Demand for Medicinal Plants

National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) of Ministry of AYUSH has been implementing the Central Sector Scheme for Conservation, Development and Sustainable Management of Medicinal Plants under which a grant of Rs.144.28 crores has been released over the last three years to various organizations including State Forest Departments, R&D institutions for taking up activities relating to overall development of medicinal plant sector. An area of about 30929 hectare has been covered for resource augmentation, in-situ conservation and setting up Medicinal Plants Conservation Areas (MPCAs) for these plants, in addition to other related activities.

Besides, under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of National Mission on Medicinal Plants, the NMPB has released Rs.140.43crores to different State Governments over the last three years for cultivation of medicinal plants on farmers land, alongwith backward and forward linkages.

In addition to the above, a network of 670 protected areas (102 National Parks, 517 Wild Life Sanctuaries, four Community Reserves and 47 Conservations Reserves) in different bio-geographic regions of the country have been setup under the programmes of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, for conservation and management of flora and fauna of the country, including medicinal plants.

This information was given by the Minister of State, AYUSH(IC), Shri Shripad Yesso Naik in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.