O.P. Sharma
Medicinal and aromatic plants have vast potential in north western Himalayan areas including Jammu and Kashmir and when properly tapped can turn the key of our economy. The State must put forwards its best foot forward to harness this natural bounty to full extant.
India has accorded high priority to promotion of medicinal plantation through its National Mission on Medicinal Plants to obtain optimal results across the country.
Plants products even today find extensive use in household remedies, ethno-medicine, cosmetics and traditional systems of medicine. In India and elsewhere in the developing countries photo-Pharmaceuticals form an integral part of the national health-care programme. In the advanced western countries, the herbal use is on sharp rise and the demand steadily going up,. India could well enter this billion dollar market with profit.
Realising the importance of medicinal plants, an Action Plan has to be formulated by the Jammu and Kashmir Government for hard and honest work to raise cultivation and productivity in the State which has suitable soil as also agro-climatic conditions. Initially an amount of Rs 75 crore has been set apart for conservation, development and sustainable management of medicinal plants.
A high level Board has been set up for supporting research institutions, programme management, capacity building as well as survey work and further studies regarding medicinal and aromatic plants in Jammu and Kashmir State.
The premier Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (IIM) at Jammu, a wing of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, has been tasked to provider technical and overall assistance in this important sphere.
IIIM is to carry various activities including identification of plants species, certification of planting material, developing of marketing linkages and modern processing technologies for collection, drying, extraction, formulation, preservation and storage. The objective is to fully tap this crucial resource in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture both in Kashmir and Jammu are lending their helping hand in building data-base, research and field studies. The J&K State Forest Department has also been actively involved in this vital task.
The action plan also focuses on supporting research institutions, programme management, capacity building and survey and studies regarding medicinal and aromatic plants.
The AYUSH Department has designated Indian Institute of Integrative Medicines (IIIM), Jammu as facilitation centre for medicinal plants and released some amount also for carrying out various activities including identification of plant species, certification of planting material, developing of marketing linkages and modern processing technologies for collection, drying, extraction, formulation, preservation and storage. The objective is to fully tap this crucial resource in Jammu and Kashmir.
The State possesses a great plant wealth that is yet to be fully tapped on commercial scale, which in turn could accrue abundant benefits to the farmers too.
In fact, it has a great potential for the plantation of medicinal plants because of ideal agro-climatic conditions and suitable soil coupled with initiative by the people.. All-out efforts by various agencies- official and non-governmental, will be made keeping in view world-wide interest in medicinal and aromatic plants.
The flora of Himalayan Kashmir comprises about 3,054 species, of which about 880 species are found in Ladakh area alone.. The flora of the Jammu district comprises 506 species. The species lists of different districts are being continually updated in research papers and by some taxonomic publications. The plants like fungi and algae have not been studied exhaustively; information on the micro-flora of isolated regions is available for some plant orders and families only. The plants of the western Himalayas are well known for their medicinal properties
This area is a storehouse of medicinal and aromatic plants, which are used in pharmaceutical and perfume industries. The list includes 55 species of important medicinal and aromatic plants. There are 11 medicinal plants in the temperate, cold, arid regions of Jammu and Kashmir. Several medicinal plants grow wild in the temperature and alpine habitats. Some native medicinal plants have been taken up for cultivation, e.g. Dioscorea deltoidea is now cultivated for its tubers which are rich in diosgenin and yield cortisone, a steroid hormone.
The State is rich in the cultural diversity of the people, as well as rich variety of flora and fauna in the forest areas and domesticated species outside the forest. Plant diversity is the life support of almost all terrestrial eco-system, with both humans and animals being entirely dependent on plants directly or indirectly. The Jammu and Kashmir State has a fairly rich diversity of plant life, and on this the people depend for their daily needs of food, medicine, fuel, fibre, etc. The varied plants life also contributes to the food and habitat needs of the wild and domesticated animals in the State. Plants are also an integral part of the State.
The environmental, social and economic values of plants are very well known. The rich potential of medicinal and aromatic wealth of Jammu and Kashmir must be explored and fully tapped for the overall boost to the economy. Will the Omar Abdullah Government put its best foot forward and tap the rich and vast natural resource of medicinal as well as aromatic plant wealth in Jammu and Kashmir ?.
( Starline Syndicate Service)
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