The Business Bytes
TBB BUREAU
NEW DELHI, MARCH 15, 2021
The National Medicinal Plant Board (NMPB) has signed an MoU with major AYUSH and herbal industry bodies including Ayurvedic Medicine Manufacturers Organisation of India (AMMOI), Ayurvedic Drug Manufactures’ Association (ADMA), Association of Manufacturers of Ayurvedic Medicine (AMAM), Association of Herbal and Nutraceutical Manufacturers of India (AHNMI), PHD chamber of commerce and Industry (PHDCCI), and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), to promote medicinal plant cultivation.
This was stated by Minister of State for Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) Kiren Rijiju in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
As per information received from National Biodiversity Authority, the Union Government has enacted the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 to regulate the access to biological resources and/or associated knowledge for certain activities the user of the biological resources needs to share the benefits in fair and equitable manner with the provider of the biological resources.
AYUSH industry owners, extract manufacturers, exporters etc. are to participate in the cultivation of medicinal plants with a buyback agreement and pre-decided price as well as volume. They will also share the cost of cultivation on the terms agreeable to the parties viz., farmers, clusters and industry owners etc.
Ministry of AYUSH is presently implementing centrally sponsored scheme of National AYUSH Mission (NAM). Under ‘Medicinal Plants’ component of the NAM scheme, it’s supporting market driven cultivation of prioritized medicinal plants in identified cluster/zones with in selected districts of States and implementing in a mission mode throughout the country. As per the scheme guidelines, the support is provided for: cultivation of prioritized medicinal plants on farmer’s land, establishment of nurseries with backward linkages for raising and supply of quality planting material, post-harvest management with forward linkages, and primary processing, marketing infrastructure etc.
Under this scheme, subsidy at the rate of 30%, 50% and 75% of cost of its cultivation is provided for cultivation of 140 prioritized medicinal plants on farmer’s land.
To recall, the NMPB had launched a “Voluntary Certification Scheme for Medicinal Plants Produce (VCSMPP)” on 22nd November, 2017 to encourage the Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) and Good Field Collection Practices (GFCPs) in medicinal plants. The VCSMPP will enhance the availability of the certified quality medicinal plants raw material in the country and also boost their export and increase India’s share in the global export of herbs.
