Government Boosts Medicinal Plant Conservation and Farmer Linkages The National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), Ministry of Ayush is presently implementing “Central Sector Scheme for Conservation, Development and Sustainable Management of Medicinal Plants”throughout the country including Jammu & Kashmir, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Under the scheme, the project-based support is provided for following activities: i. In-situ conservation through development of Medicinal Plants Conservation and Development Areas (MPCDAs). ii. In-situ/Ex-situ resource augmentation. iii. Ex-situ conservation through establishment of herbal gardens. iv. Livelihood linkages with Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs) / Panchayats / Van Panchayats / Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) / Self Help Groups (SHGs). v. IEC activities like Training / workshops / Seminars/ Conferences etc. vi. Research & Development. vii. Promotion of marketing and trade of medicinal plants produce. viii. Forward and backward linkage in supply chain of medicinal plants. The details of projects sanctioned and funds released under the Central Sector Scheme on Conservation, Development and Sustainable management of Medicinal Plants during the last five years, state wise at Annexure I. (b) The Ministry of Ayush, Government of India had implemented Centrally Sponsored Scheme of National Ayush Mission (NAM) for cultivation of medicinal plants from the financial year 2015-16 to 2020-21 throughout the country including Madhya Pradesh. Till date, Ministry of Ayush had released as a central share an amount of Rs. 15.85 Crore and supported 12,551 hectare area under cultivation of medicinal plants, in Madhya Pradesh under medicinal plants component of National Ayush Mission (NAM) from the financial year 2015-16 to 2020-21. The detail is given at Annexure-II. Besides this, National Medicinal Plants Board, Ministry of Ayush has approved a project entitled “Forward and backward linkage in supply chain of medicinal plants at Khandwa district in MP”to the State Medicinal Plants Board, Madhya Pradesh for an amount of Rs. 119.95 lakh during the F.Y. 2024-25 under Integrated Component to raise the planting material for distribution to the farmers for medicinal plants cultivation and establishment of infrastructure for Post-Harvest Management and Marketing. (c) NMPB, under its “Central Sector Scheme on Conservation, Development and Sustainable Management of Medicinal Plants”is providing project based support for the conservation of rare and endangered of medicinal plants to State Forest Departments including State of Gujarat for Resource Augmentation/ Plantation of medicinal plants in forest areas through in-situ resource augmentation, plantation outside designated forest areas through ex-situ resource augmentation and Support to (JFMCs)/Panchayats/ Van Panchayat/SHGs/BMCs etc. for setting of local cluster for value addition, drying, warehousing and augmenting marketing infrastructure etc. and generate livelihood to these forest fringe communities.
During the last five (5) years, the NMPB has supported a project entitled “ in-situ Resource Augmentation of medicinal plants in Kutch Circle, to Gujarat. (d) To ensure price transparency and increase the income of the farmers, NMPB has launched “e-CHARAK” mobile application as well as web portal for the promotion and marketing of medicinal plants/herbs for trade of Medicinal Plants & easy market access, The “e-CHARAK” is a platform to enable information exchange between various stakeholders mainly farmers involved in the medicinal plants sector across the country. The “e-CHARAK” application supports different local languages and it also provides fortnightly market price of 100 MPs from 25 herbal markets across India. Currently, e-Charak mobile has Registered users- 11,119; Total visitors- 30565540; Posted items- 7,588; B uyer Sellers Interactions- 7114690. The cultivation activities are not supported under the Central Sector Scheme. However, NMPB, Ministry of Ayush has supported projects under Forward and Backward Linkage in Supply Chain of Medicinal Plants (Integrated Component) of existing Central Sector Scheme from the F.Y. 2023-24, wherein project based support is provided for Infrastructure for Quality Planting Material to raise the planting material of medicinal plants for cultivation, Information Education Communication (IEC) activities to aware the farmers, Infrastructure for Post-Harvest Management and Marketing to increase the marketability of the medicinal plants, adding value to the produce, increasing profitability and reducing losses, Quality Testing and Certification of raw material. NMPB has approved total 15 project proposals to the different organization under Forward and Backward Linkages in supply chain of Medicinal Plants (Integrated Component) of Central Sector Scheme of NMPB from the Financial Year 2023 -24 to till date to cover approximately 2000 hectare area under cultivation of medicinal plants by providing the QPM to the farmers. Annexure-1 The details of new projects sanctioned and total funds released ( new as well as old projects) under the Central Sector Scheme in the country during the last five years, State/UT-wise including Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. S. No. State No. of new projects sanctioned Total fund released to the state for new as well as old projects during last 5 years (Amount in lakh) Andaman & Nicobar 1 24.50 Andhra Pradesh 16 466.78 Arunachal Pradesh 5 79.67 Assam 24 1063.00 Bihar 2 43.09 Chandigarh 3 58.32 Chhattisgarh 5 158.25 Delhi 39 1116.84 Goa 1 47.24 Gujarat 14 1348.02 Haryana 16 515.72 Himachal Pradesh 20 730.12 Jammu & Kashmir 14 679.40 Jharkhand 6 14.20 Karnataka 32 1585.04 Kerala 31 1379.74 Ladakh 4 91.75 Lakshdweep 0 26.17 Madhya Pradesh 27 594.03 Maharashtra 25 828.99 Manipur 8 141.94 Meghalaya 2 31.15 Mizoram 7 325.77 Nagaland 3 97.93 Odisha 20 150.28 Punjab 13 195.48 Puducherry 4 96.75 Rajasthan 12 224.26 Sikkim 3 520.22 Tamil Nadu 51 687.31 Telangana 14 544.47 Tripura 1 0 Uttar Pradesh 38 1096.64 Uttarakhand 26 700.21 West Bengal 11 842.22 Total 498 16505.5 Annexure-II The detail of activities approved in Madhya Pradesh under Medicinal Plants Component of National Ayush Mission (NAM) scheme from the financial year 2015-16 to 2020-21. S. No. Activities 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 Total 1 Area covered under cultivation of medicinal plants (Area in hectare) 1681 2518 2030 1262 790 4270 12551 2 No. of Post-Harvest Management units (in numbers) 0 0 14 0 40 9 63 3 Rural Collection Centre (in numbers) 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 4. Fund released (Central Share) ( Rs. in Crore ) 2.76 2.98 2.70 2.01 3.10 2.30 15.85 This information was given by the Minister of State (IC) for Ayush Shri Pratap Rao Jadhav in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on 20th MARCH 2026.