The Ayurvedic Drug Manufacturers' Association (ADMA) has requested the Ayurveda, Siddha & Unani (ASU) drug manufacturers to submit the raw material consumption data of herbal plants to the National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) under the Department of Ayush for the year 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 as soon as possible.

This circular was sent by ADMA to its members following a notification by the Department. The notification has warned the ASU units of stringent action in case of failure to provide the data.

The Department of Ayush is pushing for the data as it wants to know the details of the raw material used in volumes according to demand and also about the medicinal plant species that are harvested from the wild.

Chandrakanth Bhanushali, general secretary, ADMA informs, “It is a very good step taken by the government to collect the raw material consumption data of herbal plants and we completely support it. Medicinal plants are getting extinct from the wild source and thus it is necessary to have an account of the usage of the same. If we know which plants or plant raw materials are used the most then we can at least cultivate those plants according to the demand in the market.”

A notification was issued by the government in July 2008 which stated that all the licensed ASU drug manufacturers in the country had to submit raw material consumption data of the financial year by April end of the same year to the National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB). However in spite of the frequent intimation very few companies had submitted their data. The NMPB recently issued a notice that those companies who will not file their data will be prosecuted under the relevant law and that their licenses would be cancelled.

It is believed that the submission of this data will lead to focused programmes at the hands on NMPB at Central and State level. In this regard ADMA has even developed a sophisticated programme with a software that is designed to protect and ensure confidentiality of submissions made.

According to Bhanushali having a database on the usage will help in assessing the total annual demand of botanical raw drugs and its corresponding monetary valuation. It will also help in guiding major shifts in strategies and focus for management of medicinal botanicals both in the agricultural and forestry sector.

“The industry has to support this as it will help in getting clearer understanding of the priorities for management of the medicinal plant resources of the country. This data is extremely important to guide and direct policy and action towards a sustainable supply of medicinal plants in times to come,” Bhanushali pointed out.