Ayush manufacturing sector grew 8x in last 10 years, huge potential for economy, export: Centre

He was speaking at the stakeholder consultation meeting along with the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, in the national capital. The meeting aimed to promote the cultivation and use of medicinal plants across the country, observing participation from other ministries such as the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, National Plant Medicinal Board (NPMB), State Horticulture Missions (SHMs), ICAR, State Medicinal Plant Boards, progressive farmers and leading private players from Medicinal Plant industry.

"There is a huge possibility of growth in Ayush sector. The Ayush manufacturing sector has grown by 8 times in the last 10 years and has vast export potential. The sector has enormous economic opportunities, and especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, the demand for Ayush products including medicinal plants has grown immensely," said Kotecha.

Devesh Chaturvedi, Secretary, of the Agriculture Ministry, highlighted the scope of the Ayush sector in increasing the domestic production of medicinal plants as inter-state trade and export of medicinal plants.

"We need better convergence between the Ministry of Ayush and Agriculture departments and collaboration with State Medicinal Plant Boards, to promote medicinal plants at the national level," he said. Chaturvedi stressed that there is a need for a mission-mode programme for medicinal plant cultivation, identifying good practices of cultivation, efficient techniques, etc., which will help in the upliftment of the sector.

The meeting focussed on exploring avenues for developing region-specific medicinal plant clusters; facilitating partnerships between farmers and industry players for assured procurement and end-to-end value chain development; discussing the establishment of dedicated mandis and marketing platforms to ensure fair prices for farmers; and promoting research, training, and extension services to build capacity among stakeholders.

The participants and stakeholders also suggested identifying crop-specific areas for the establishment of clusters dedicated to medicinal plants.

These clusters would focus on area expansion, production, industry partnerships, farmer training, and marketing through setting up specialised mandis for these crops ensuring remunerative prices to the farmers.

The experts also emphasised the need to identify policy interventions and financial incentives to encourage farmers to take up the cultivation of medicinal plants.