Kerala to popularise cultivation of medicinal, aromatic plants

James Paul
08 December 2003

Kochi: Mass cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants with high-export potential will be popularised in Kerala.

This is in the background of the global mindset''s inclination for "natural products and remedies." While China''s annual foreign exchange touched Rs 22,000 crore, accounting for 30 per cent of the global herbal market, India''s earning from these agricultural products was a paltry Rs 500 crore, says C S Jadav, director, Nandan Agro Farms, a company involved in the popularisation of the medicinal plant cultivation.

According to him Nandan Agro Farms has tied up with a Switzerland-based company, Spearhead, which has a world-wide distribution network covering over 70 countries, for marketing its products.

To improve India''s global competence, there was a need to integrate the farming and marketing sectors to ensure a competitive price to farmers for their produce, and Nandan Agro Farms has already taken the initiative in this regard.

Favourable climatic conditions in various parts of the country, coupled with the knowledge of traditional systems of medicine, could lend India an edge in the global herbal market for cultivation of vital herbs like safed musli, having aphrodisiac values, and in the manufacture of value-added products, says Jadav.

A successful Malayalee agronomist, James Jacob Kainadi, who recently ventured into cultivating herbal plants along with other cash crops, says safed musli, which attained yield in just 10 months, has been found to be a very profitable crop suited to South India''s climatic conditions.