Farmers have been reluctant to switch to cultivation of medicinal herbs with lack of marketing and other infrastructural support acting as major deterrents.

The state is, however, now making efforts to encourage the farming community to take up cultivation of these plants with Chief Minister B C Khanduri himself being involved in drawing out plans for optimum tapping of the medicinal plants and promising to take care of the shortcomings in their cultivation and marketing.

“To begin with, we have initiated the process of free registration of farmers who are cultivating medicinal plants. This will give us an idea about the production of medicinal herbs and also help in drawing the future roadmap. Each farmer is being given a yield certificate also,” Dr Aditya Kumar, vice-chairman, State Medicinal Plant Board (SMPB) told The Indian Express.

He further stated that the Government has established seven nurseries — at Mandal, Parsari and Kothiyal Sain in Chamoli, Dhanaulti in Tehri, Sela Qui in Dehradun, Gadarpur in Udhamsingh Nagar and Munshiyari in Pithoragarh — to provide saplings of these plants to farmers. These nurseries provide plants

that are grown at different heights and in different climatic conditions.

“We are also giving 50 per cent grant to farmers who are cultivating medicinal plants,” said Dr Kumar. “A plan is also in place to encourage farming of medicinal plants in clusters. Any farmer who sets up a distillation unit in these clusters will be given a 95 per cent subsidy. This has primarily been done to discourage migration of unemployed youth from the higher reaches of the Himalayas.”

“To plug the loopholes in marketing, a revolving fund worth Rs 50 lakh has been created by the Chief Minister so that farmers with smaller quantities of produce do not face problems. In addition to this, a Minimum Support Price (MSP) has been declared for nine medicinal plants,” pointed out Dr Kumar.

Meanwhile, farmers cultivating medicinal plants have been also alleging harassment by the Forest Department officials —something that Khanduri himself had talked about at a meeting earlier this month. “I am conveying my displeasure and anger at the way things stand. It is convenient to resort to means of smuggling than to work honestly. A man transporting things honestly is stopped by 25 forest officials,” he had said.

Officials, however, claimed that in order to facilitate easy passage of farmers, the transit passes are being issued without any hassle and in an easier format.

Uttarakhand’s potential can be gauged from the fact that more than 70 industries dealing in manufacturing of herbal medicines have set up units in the state. Some of them utilise nearly 1,000 metric tonnes of herbs on a monthly basis alone.