Karnataka Medicinal Plant Board Authority (KMPBA) has now submitted the state strategy for conservation and economic utilization of medicinal plants to the Karnataka government. The Board is confident that the state government will announce the same by June end.

The state strategy is viewed as a major opportunity for saving and cultivation of the engendered species of medicinal flora. The development of the strategy was mandated by the State Medicinal Plant Board under department of Environment and Forests.
It is essential to safeguard medicinal plants and ensure the cultivation on farm lands of the endangered species. This will offer promising scope to the farmers and the industry in the development of the rare medicinal plants, S Venu Gopal, CEO, APCCF, Karnataka Medicinal Plants Authority told Pharmabiz.

The main focus of the State strategy is to rework the supply from farm to firm rather than forest to factory. All the importance is provided to the supply of high quality raw material pricing. This will help the farmers to cultivate more medicinal plants in the wake of the growing demand from the domestic industry for supply to international markets. It will persuade public sector participation to ensure price stability and assured buying. There will also be Insitu-conservation of medicinal plant species in forests to boost its multiplication, biodiversity conservation and evolution.

Currently around 80 per cent of the required medicinal plants are sourced from the forests directly and supplied to the industry. The direct supply from forests has impacted the quality of the produce. Further, there is also an increasing unwillingness from the farmers to cultivate medicinal plants primarily because of paucity of good market price and constant interference from the middle men.

"In order to get the right herbal medicines, high quality herbs need to be sourced. This is where state guidelines with cultivation protocols are required," stated Gopal.

Now a concrete path has been paved to include the medicinal plants in forest policy and its working plans. Laws are in place to restrict and regulate raw material utilization from forests, similar to wild life protection. There is a need to make public all transaction of endangered species. The initiation of Quality Production Management (QPM) practices during collection, storage, distribution and at nurseries needs to be ensured. Ample attention should be paid to genetic improvement, cultivation protocol and market research. Good agricultural practices and organic farming needs to be practiced for high quality of raw materials, besides look at expansion of industry and exports.

In addition, KMPBA has also included in the strategy, the need for a legal and administrative support. It included an annual budget and grant which will help to assist the entrepreneurs to participate. Research institutes are also included to develop a protocol for the cultivation of all medicinal plants including tree species.