Govt. Provided Financial Aid to Train Farmers for Preservation, Advancement, and Management of Medicinal Plants

The National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), Ministry of Ayush has provided financial support in the form of projects to a number of institutes and organisations to help them organise awareness campaigns, educational trips, and capacity-building activities (seminars, conferences, workshops, etc.) as part of the Central Sector Scheme (CSS) for the preservation, advancement, and sustainable management of medicinal plants.

This information was provided by Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

With a budget of Rs 3079.116 lakh, NMPB has supported 126 projects for various IEC activities to inform a wide range of stakeholders, including farmers, about different aspects of medicinal plants, such as conservation, cultivation, Post-Harvest Management, and marketing, from the financial year 2017–18 to 2021–22, the statement said.

The Directorate of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Research (DMAPR), Anand, Gujarat, is also given project-based support under the aforementioned programme for the creation of a training module and facilitator's guide for good agricultural practices and good collection practices for medicinal plants.

In addition, the Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) is educating farmers about good agricultural practices (GAP) and global warming through its constituent laboratories, including the CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal & Aromatic Plants (CSIR-CIMAP), Lucknow; the CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR-IIIM), Jammu; and CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute (CSIR-NBRI), Lucknow, the minister told.

By making special efforts to create enhanced agrotechnologies, high-yielding varieties, and processing technologies of medicinal and aromatic plants, CSIR-CIMAP is fostering activities based on medicinal and aromatic plants in various regions of the nation.

 By implementing numerous awareness programmes and skill development programmes on the production, primary processing, and marketing elements of medicinal and aromatic plants, extra efforts are also being made to spread technology among farmers and business owners, the statement added.