New Delhi, July 22 (IANS) The National Medicinal Plants Board under the Ministry of Ayush has supported 431 research projects under ‘Research & Development’ component on various aspects of medicinal plants, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

Elaborating on the Ministry’s Central Sector Scheme on Conservation, Development and Sustainable Management of Medicinal Plant, Minister of State for Ayush Prataprao Jhadav said, “The NMPB has also supported nine projects under ‘Forward and backward linkage in supply chain of medicinal plants (Integrated Component)’ throughout the country.”

In a written reply to a question by Mukul Wasnik, the MoS said, “The total commercial demand of herbal raw drugs in the country for the year 2014-15, converted to dry weight for all entities, was reported to be 5,11,910 MT, which includes wastage of 14,910 MT.”

Out of this, the demand in domestic herbal industry was 1,95,000 MT, demand for exports stood at 1,34,500 MT, and demand in rural households was 1,67,500 MT, he said.

He said the government has also made an assessment of the losses incurred due to lack of post-harvest facilities for storage of medicinal plant produce.

Jhadav said that as per an NMPB-supported study, “Medicinal Plants in India: An Assessment of their Demand and Supply” by Ved and Goraya, published in 2017, estimated wastage of the raw drugs during post-harvest handling was factored in for estimating annual demand of herbal raw drugs.”

Sharing details of government plans to promote research and development (R&D) in all aspects of medicinal plants, development of agro-techniques, post-harvest management and storage and processing, he said the NMPB has supported 431 research projects under “Research & Development” component in Government/Non-government organisations, research institutions and universities.

The R&D projects cover aspects like quality testing and certification; infrastructure for Quality Planting Material to raise the planting material of medicinal plants for cultivation, and Information Education Communication (IEC) activities for farmer awareness.

The MoS said some of the R&D projects are focused on infrastructure for post-harvest Management and Marketing to increase the marketability of the medicinal plants, adding value to the produce, increasing profitability and reducing losses.

–IANS

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