ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE OF THE MINISTRY OF AYURVEDA,
YOGA & NATUROPATHY, UNANI, SIDDHA AND HOMOEOPATHY
(DR. MUNJPARA MAHENDRABHAI)
(a): Yes, Madam and Sirs, Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India had implemented Centrally Sponsored Scheme of National AYUSH Mission (NAM) to promote the cultivation of medicinal herbs and shrubs in view of its demand. Under ‘Medicinal Plants’ component of the NAM scheme market driven cultivation of 140 prioritized medicinal plants in identified clusters/zones was supported and implemented in a mission mode. As per the scheme guidelines, the support was provided for:
(i) Cultivation of prioritized medicinal plants on farmer’s land.
(ii) Establishment of nurseries with backward linkages for raising and supply of quality planting material.
(iii) Post-harvest management with forwarding linkages.
(iv) Primary processing, marketing infrastructure etc.
(b): To encourage farmers to cultivate Medicinal Plants, subsidy is @30%, 50% and 75% of cultivation cost of prioritized plant species have been provided. In this regard, the Ministry of AYUSH has supported 25,109 hectare area under cultivation of Medicinal Plants component of National AYUSH Mission (NAM) with the financial assistance of Rs.6305.24 lakh. The details of the area supported for the cultivation of medicinal plants throughout the country including Maharashtra from the Financial Year 2018-19 to 2020-21 are given at Annexure-I.
For conservation, the National Medicinal Plants Board, Ministry of Ayush, Government of India is implementing a scheme entitled “Central Sector Scheme on Conservation, Development and Sustainable Management of Medicinal Plants” wherein the following activities are supported:
(i) In-situ conservation / Ex-situ conservation
(ii) Livelihood linkages with Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs) / Panchayats / Van Panchayats / Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) / Self Help Groups (SHGs).
(iii) Information Education and communication (IEC) activities like Training / Workshops / Seminars/ Conferences etc.
(iv) Research & Development.
(v) Promotion, marketing and trade of medicinal plants produce
In this regard, year-wise and State-wise details of financial assistance provided to different State Forest Departments for Conservation, Resource Augmentation and JFMCs during Financial Years 2018-19 to 2020-21 including Maharashtra are at Annexure-II.
(c): Yes, Madam and Sirs, The Government envisages the necessity of connectivity between the cultivators, producers and market trading of medicinal plants to establish linkage from the farm to consumer. In this regard, NMPB has launched an e-CHARAK mobile application as well as a web portal for the promotion and marketing of medicinal plants/herbs. “e-CHARAK” is a platform to enable information exchange between various stakeholders, mainly farmers, involved in the medicinal plants sector across the country. “e-CHARAK” application supports different local languages and it also provides a fortnightly market price of 100 Medicinal Plants from 25 herbal markets across India.
In addition, to provide market linkage to the farmers/ collectors involved in the cultivation/ collection of medicinal plants, the detailed requirements of major companies are shared with all State Implementing Agencies and Regional Cum Facilitation Centres supporting the cultivation of Medicinal Plants.
(d) & (e): Yes, Madam and Sirs, Cluster based potential areas for cultivation of said shrubs and herbs were identified and supported throughout the country from the F.Y 2018-19 to 2020-21 is given at Annexure-I.
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