DTMT Network

To promote the cultivation of medicinal plants and their use in Ayurveda, the National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), Ministry of AYUSH has launched a national campaign in the country as a part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

This programme has been started from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh and Pune in Maharashtra.

The Indian Ministry of Ayush claims that this move will help in increasing the income of farmers and realising the dream of Green India.

“Under this campaign, cultivation of medicinal plants will be done on 75,000 hectares of land in the next one year across the country. The program has been started from Saharanpur in UP and Pune in Maharashtra. This program is second in the series of programs being organized by the Ministry of Ayush under the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’,” the ministry said in a statement on September 2, 2021

“This move will give more impetus to the supply of medicinal plants in the country. A total of 7500 medicinal plants were distributed to 75 farmers on this occasion. A target has been set to distribute 75 thousand saplings,” the Deputy Chief Executive Officer, NMPB, Dr. Chandra Shekhar Sanwal said.

Uttar Pradesh Minister of State for Ayush Dharam Singh Saini felicitated the farmers cultivating medicinal plants in the Saharanpur district.

The plants including Night-flowering Jasmine (Parijat), Golden Apple (Bel), Margosa Tree (Neem), Indian Ginseng (Ashwagandha), and Indian Blackberry (Jamun) were distributed free of cost to 150 farmers who came from many nearby districts.

A total of 750 Jamun saplings were separately distributed free of cost to the farmers.

India’s AYUSH Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has said that the country has immense potential in the field of medicinal plants and cultivation of medicinal plants, 75,000 hectares of land will ensure the availability of medicines in the country and it will be a big source of income for the farmers.

“This will make the country self-reliant in the field of medicines. Significantly, in the last one and half years, the market of medicinal plants has increased in a big way not only in India but all over the world. This is the reason that Ashwagandha has been the third best-selling product in America,” Sonowal added.