World Health Organisation (WHO) has estimated that at least 80% of the world population rely on traditional systems of medicine for their primary health needs and these systems are largely plant-based. WHO has stated that over 21,000 plant species are useful in the preparation of medicines. Due to the growing awareness about the side-effects and complications of chemical and synthetic medicines, cosmetics and health supplements, the usage of herbal products has gained importance across the world.
The present global herbal market is worth $62 billion per annum, of which India's share is hardly 0.2%. The annual growth of herbal market is about 15% and the expected global herbal market will be about $5 trillion by 2050. The Task Force appointed by the Planning Commission in 1999 has fixed the country's export target of medicinal plant products at Rs 15,000 crore by the year 2010 from the present Rs 3,000 crore.
Speakers at the three-day international conference on medicinal and aromatic plants in Hyderabad said this was the proper time for India to make relentless efforts to promote cultivation and take a substantial share in the huge herbal market. The meeting called for conservation and cultivation of endangered and exportable species with good cultivation practices and identification of marketing and export channels.
Inaugurating the conference organised by Swami Ramananda Tirtha Institute of Socio-Economic Research and National Integration on Saturday, President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam stressed the need for new technology to make use of India's rich biodiversity and vast traditional knowledge on medicinal plants for developing and exporting value-added products.
Drawing from his own experience as a researcher, the President recalled how a biotechnologist at Anna University, where he was a teacher, had collaborated with a Siddha practitioner and developed a new anti-cancer molecule crystallised from a herb. Asking the scientists not to ignore the traditional knowledge, he told them to blend the centuries old knowledge with modern technology so as to enable the country to become a major player in the global herbal market in the future.
Dr Kalam said it was not mere cultivation of the plants, but their value-addition combined with biotechnology which held the key for checking the developed countries from taking away India's bioresources. They took them away in raw forms, processed them in their own countries, added value and exported them to the developing countries, including India, he said.
The President said India had a large number of medicinal plants, but the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet on Herbal and Natural Products and Floriculture had shortlisted 7 herbal plants, from their own original 160, to meet national/international demand and economic benefit.
These were Aloevera, Sarpagandha, Mandookaparni, Brahmi, Himalayan Yew, Artimesia annua and Periwinkle. The President said the scientists should come out with more such plants which would have medicinal and commercial value for the farmers, who should cultivate them in large farms.
Besides India, China, Brazil, Indonesia, and Mexico were rich in biodiversity and they too needed technology for transforming a molecule extracted from herbs into a drug. The US, France, Japan and some other developed countries had advanced technology. Integration of these two was the big challenge, Dr Kalam pointed out. He said in the normal course research and development of drugs took 10-12 years, but the blending of traditional knowledge about medicinal plants and biotechnology could reduce the time substantially. To the applause of the assembled audience, Dr Kalam invited them to visit his website to know more about medicinal plants. " Visit my website. All the details are posted on it with colourful photographs," he said.
P V Narasimha Rao, former Prime Minister and Chairman of the Swami Ramananda Tirtha Institute, expressed concern over the rapid depletion of forests that resulted in the destruction of medicinal and aromatic plants. He also warned the farmers against growing tobacco and ending up selling and exporting cancer. He said his prestigious Institute had taken up various programmes for creating awareness in the cultivation, conservation, value-addition and marketing of medicinal plants. Over 1,000 farmers had undergone training in cultivation of medicinal plants so far. He said the lack of access to organised markets was the biggest problem for the cultivators. He also called for concerted efforts to patent traditional knowledge.
D N Tiwari, Planning Commission member, in his keynote address, said Ayurvedic treatment was simpler, gentler and cheaper. He said the cultivation of herbal plants was not only a source of modern healthcare but also a source of better income for the farmers. He said for some chronic diseases there was no cure in allopathy and was looking to Ayurveda for treatment.
Tiwari said a WHO study had reported that 80% of the world population still depended on traditional medicine. The modern Pharmacopia had 25% herbal medicines. If the national goal of health for all was to be achieved at least by the year 2005, from the original target of 2000, herbal medicine could not be ignored, he said.
Tiwari stressed the need for a domestic validation system for the quality of medicinal and aromatic plant products. He said it should be given a priority industry status and recognised as Green Industry.
Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has assured all help in promoting traditional knowledge. He said the state government had allotted 30 acres of land to the Ramananda Tirtha Institute for its work on research and promotion of herbal products. The Chief Minister said the state was gifted with hundreds of plants with medicinal value. The farmers, he suggested, should go in for diversification and cultivate medicinal plants instead of dangerous plants like tobacco which were harmful to health.
Naidu said conservation of medicinal plants had been taken up in the state under the UNDP programme, while the Vana Samrakshna Samithi was involved in the cultivation of herbs on 1,800 hectares. He said AP was the first to form a state-level Medicinal and Aromatic Board. The promotion of medicinal plants in the backward and forest areas would help the farmers, the state and the people as a whole in healthcare through the alternative system of medicine, which was safer and cheaper.
Governor Surjeet Singh Barnala released the souvenir. The inaugural function was also attended by Union Minister of State for Railways and local MP Bandaru Dattatreya.