Maharashtra Ayurved Center Pvt Ltd (MAC), an ayurvedic industry cluster based in Pune, is planning to produce herbal fertilizers for medicinal plants grown in ayurvedic clusters based on Vriksha Ayurveda principles in line with national organic cultivation policy.

This bears relevance as rampant use of pesticides and chemicals have posed disastrous effects on medicinal and non-medicinal crops in terms of their efficacy to treat ailments and offer the required nutrition.

This will also help cater to the increasing demand for authentic ayurvedic, herbal and organic products for plant growth and health based on Vriksha Ayurveda principles through inducing bio-active factors for plant growth.

The principle of Vriksha Ayurveda is to extract plant origin concentrate from plants and feed to the deficient plant. The results are instant, as the concentrate is 100 per cent plant nutrient herbal extract. This system naturally supports the environment too. When plants absorb the chemical concentrate, the characteristic of the entire plant changes and plant shows its inability to resist. These give way to atmospheric changes where many unknown diseases occur.

Says Dr Sunita Belgamwar, chairperson, MAC, "Considering our thousand years history of farming, India has rich knowledge about agriculture science in the form of Vriksh Ayurveda - the oldest existing healthcare system for plant, animals and humans. Vriksh Ayurveda advocates a holistic crop management system and deals with various species of trees and their healthy growth and productivity. The ancient texts are full of descriptions about treatment through herbs, which is unique, harmless and very beneficial for humans, animals and plants."

She further added that drug manufactures should explore this untouched field for producing herbal formulations for plant health and tap the opportunity which is in tune with nature. This would be instrumental in saving land mass by irrational use of chemicals in the form of pesticides and fertilizers.

Nearly 80 per cent cultivation of organic farming are in developing nations. India is on the top position amongst the organic production countries. Currently 170 countries are producing organic material. Out of this 82 countries have regulatory mechanism in place. Only 1 per cent of global land mass in under organic cultivation at present. The global demand for organic produce is 72 to 80 billion dollars and the market is growing by 10 per cent to 12 per cent every year in developed nations.

Upavanavinoda of Shaarangadhara and Vrikshayurveda of Surapaala and Brhatsamhita of Varahamihira of the sixth century also contains a chapter titled Vrikshayurveda.

Surapal's Vrikshayurveda is a systematic composition starting with the glorification of trees and tree planting. It then proceeds to discuss various topics connected with the science of plant life such as procuring, preserving, and treating of seeds before planting, preparing pits for planting saplings, selection of soil, method of watering, nourishments and fertilizers, plant diseases and plant protection from internal and external diseases, layout of a garden, agricultural and horticultural wonders, groundwater resources; etc.

Vriksha Ayurveda touched new heights and spread to nearby countries in olden times. The excellent example is mummification. Rare herbs combined together with each of their properties well studied helped restore 2000 years old dead human bodies without decay.  

There are frequent references to this science in ancient Indian literature such as Atharvaveda, Brhatsamhita of Varahamihira, Sarngadharapaddhati of Sarngadhara, etc. which bring out the botanical and agricultural aspects.