'Medicinal plants' demand up 50%, availability down'

CHANDIGARH: The demand for high-value medicinal plants has increased by 50% while the availability has declined by 26%, as per the All India Trade Survey of Prioritised Medicinal Plants. This has led to increased habitat degradation and levels of over exploitation by pharmaceutical industries in the state. As a result, 65 species (10% of the total) have fallen in the the categories of critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable and nearly threatened.

In a study conducted by a group of researchers from Mohal at the Kullu-based unit of GB Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development on Medicinal Plants in Himachal Pradesh and north-western Himalayas, distribution of 643 medicinal plant species have been identified in Kais and Manali wildlife sanctuaries, the cold desert biosphere reserve and the Great Himalayan National Park. The area of the study covered 55,673 km, which is 9% of the Himalayan region.

The team of researchers consisted of head of the institute S S Samant and other faculty members, namely Shreekar Pant, Man Singh, Manohar Lal, Aman Sharma, Ashok Singh and Sakshi Bhandari.

Medicinal plants are used to make medicine under Ayuvedic, Unani and other traditional system and even by plant-based pharmaceutical companies. Samant said that 90% of medicinal plant species were extracted from the wild and 69 % of the material was collected through destructive harvesting. The natural stock of medicinal plants of Himachal is under tremendous pressure, owing to increasing demand and preference for natural substances in healthcare system world over. Excessive anthropogenic pressure is another reason for their drastic decline.

According to Samant, the inventory and monitoring of medicinal plants in protected and non-protected areas is essential. To satisfy the increasing demand for medicinal plants, cultivation of commercially viable species need to be increased. Unfortunately, only a few Himalayan medicinal plants are cultivated by farmers and NGOs on a small scale. These species include Humulus Iupulus, Artemisia Marilima, Bunium Persicum, etc. Besides, appropriate post harvest agro-techniques for most medicinal plants are not available. The establishment and maintenance of nurseries and herbal gardens in different altitude zones with stocks of medicinal plants are also required to ensure the availability of quality planting material and to introduce medicinal plants as cash crops.