Medicinal plants to be cultivated on 75,000 hectares of land under Ayush ministry's campaign

New Delhi

Medicinal plants will be cultivated on 75,000 hectares ofland across the country as part of a campaign launched by the NationalMedicinal Plants Board (NMPB) that functions under the Ministry of Ayush.

The NMPB has launched the campaign to promote cultivation of medicinal plantsin the country as part of the "Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav" celebrationsto mark 75 years of independence, the Ayush ministry said on Thursday.

"This will help in increasing the income of farmers and realise the dreamof Green India. Under this campaign, cultivation of medicinal plants will bedone on 75,000 hectares of land in the next one year across the country. Theprogramme has been started from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh and Pune inMaharashtra," it said. The campaign is the second such event in a seriesof programmes being organised by the Ministry of Ayush as part of "AzadiKa Amrit Mahotsav".

In Pune, medicinal plants have been distributed among farmers and those whowere already cultivating such plants have been felicitated. Nilesh Lanke, MLAfrom Parner in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district, Dr Asim Ali Khan, DG, CentralCouncil for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM), and Dr Chandra Shekhar Sanwal,Deputy Chief Executive Officer, NMPB, led the events from different locations,the ministry said in a statement.

Sanwal said "this effort will give more impetus to the supply of medicinalplants in the country". A total of 7,500 medicinal plants were distributedto 75 farmers on this occasion. A target has been set to distribute 75,000saplings.

In Saharanpur, Minister of State for Ayush, Government of Uttar Pradesh, DharamSingh Saini, along with Research Officer of the NMPB Sunil Dutt and officialsof the Ministry of Ayush participated in the programmes. The farmerscultivating medicinal plants were felicitated by Saini, the statement said.

Medicinal plants were distributed for free to 150 farmers who came from manynearby districts. These included mainly five species of plants --night-flowering jasmine (parijat), golden apple (bel), margosa tree (neem),Indian ginseng (ashwagandha) and Indian blackberry (jamun). Separately, 750jamun saplings were also distributed to the farmers, the statement said.

According to Union Ayush Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, the country has animmense potential in the field of medicinal plants. The cultivation of suchplants on 75,000 hectares of land will ensure availability of medicines andwill be a big source of income for farmers, he has said.

This will make the country self-reliant in the field of medicines.Significantly, in the last one-and-a-half years, the market of medicinal plantshas increased in a big way not only in India but all over the world. This isthe reason that ashwagandha has been the third best-selling product in the US,the statement said.

Other events being held under "Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav" include thelaunch of the "Y Break" app, distribution of prophylactic Ayush drugs,"Ayush Aapke Dwar" and a lecture series for school and collegestudents. The lecture series and a webinar on the "Y Break" app willbe organised on September 5.