The Hindu : Study on medicinal plants suggested

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 18, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

Study on medicinal plants suggested

By Our Staff Reporter

TIRUPATI FEB. 17. The Forest Department officials have been asked to take up a comprehensive study on conservation of medicinal plants in South India and document the endangered plants before initiating steps to conserve them.

At the inaugural session on "Policy consultation on threatened medicinal plants of Eastern and Western ghats, trading and promoting their cultivation", organised here by FRLHT, a Bangalore-based foundation, and the Ministry of Environment and Forests on Monday, it was felt that a balance had to be struck between conservation and commercial use of the medicinal plants with a rise in awareness on and preference for naturo-therapy.

Senior officials, including G.V. Sarat Babu, Additional Director (CS), and M.A. Haque, Director, Union Ministry of Forests, and their colleagues in the southern States and Maharashtra, shared the view that they have to study more on the plants grown in their forests, their medicinal value and market potential and initiate steps for their "controlled commercialisation.''

K.S. Rao, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Andhra Pradesh, stressed the need to train his men on the rare medicinal plants and document them, before creating an awareness among the public. The list of 600 to 800 valuable plants found in the State included high value plants grown in the Khammam and Rayalaseema belts.

A.B. Bhangre, Chief Conservator of Forests, Maharashtra, said that foresters, who were just out of the timber-oriented forestry mode, should first know what they were conserving. J.C. Kala, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Tamil Nadu, spoke on the poor financial position of the State and sought help from the Centre.

S. Rajendran of the Karnataka Medicinal Plants Authority said that of the 300 types of plants, farmers cultivated only 10 per cent leaving the rest to be extracted from the wild. He said that the `tribal growers-middlemen-pharma companies' link, being a buyer's market, gave less to the growers and a lion's share of the profit to the intermediaries. Steps were taken to make it a seller's market to leave 30 per cent margin to the growers.

N. Gopinathan, Managing Director, Aushadhi, Kerala State-owned pharmaceutical company, said that collection and processing were not being done in a systematic manner. He wanted the Government to liberalise the stringent laws to promote the industry.For example, prohibition on sale of ivory and opium, being used in manufacture of drugs, could be relaxed.

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