National Medicinal Plants Board Funds Training for Farmers on Best Practices in Medicinal Plant Cultivation

National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), Ministry of Ayush has supported training projects to various organization across the country to train the farmers on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Good Field Collection Practices (GFCP) of medicinal plants. Total 14352 farmers were benefited from the financial year 2015-16 to 2023-24. NMPB has also supported a project entitled “Capacity Building cum Sensitization proposal for Voluntary Certification Scheme for Medicinal Plant Produce (VCSMPP)” to the Quality Council of India (QCI), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, New Delhi for awareness programme on medicinal plants. The Quality Council of India (QCI) has organized 76 training programmes and trained 4408 farmers on Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) and Good Field Collection Practices (GFCPs) of medicinal plants.

National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), Ministry of Ayush provides financial assistance in project mode to various institutes/ organizations throughout the country to organise awareness programme, exposure visits and capacity building programmes (seminars / training conferences / workshops, etc.) through Information Education and Communication (IEC) activities under the Central Sector Scheme (CSS) for Conservation, Development and Sustainable Management of Medicinal Plants. NMPB, Ministry of Ayush has supported 240 projects for various IEC activities to aware the array of stakeholders including farmers about different aspects of medicinal plants like conservation, cultivation, post-harvest management and marketing throughout the country from the financial year 2015-16 to 2023-24.

National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), Ministry of Ayush provides financial assistance in project mode to the different organizations under research and development activity of Central Sector Scheme on Conservation, Development and Sustainable Management of Medicinal Plants on various aspects such as Post-harvest Management, assessment of heavy metals and integrated pest management, Development of agro-techniques, standardization of nursery techniques and cultivation practices and Intercropping and sustainable production technology of medicinal plants. The outcome of research on the above mentioned aspects are disseminated to the farmers through trainings and other IEC activities. NMPB, Ministry of Ayush has supported 39 projects on the above mentioned aspects under Research & Development activity of Central Sector Scheme from the financial year 2015-16 to 2023-24.

National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), Ministry of Ayush, Government of India is implementing Central Sector Scheme on “Conservation, Development and Sustainable Management of Medicinal Plants” throughout the country wherein following activities are supported:

1. Information Education & Communication (IEC) activities like Training / Workshops / Seminars/ Conferences etc.
2. Establishment of nurseries.
3. In-situ conservation / Ex-situ conservation.
4. Livelihood linkages with Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs) / Panchayats / Van Panchayats / Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) / Self Help Groups (SHGs).
5. Research & Development.
6. Promotion, marketing and trade of medicinal plants produce.
7. Forward and backward linkage in supply chain of medicinal plants (Integrated Component) – the following activities is supporting under the component:

• 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.

Year-wise detail of projects approved by National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), Ministry of Ayush under Information Education and Communication of Central Sector Scheme on Conservation, Development and Sustainable Management of Medicinal Plants from the financial year 2015-16 to 2023-24

S.No.	Financial Year	Number of projects approved by NMPB, Ministry of Ayush
1	2015-16	11
2	2016-17	30
3	2017-18	25
4	2018-19	40
5	2019-20	20
6	2020-21	14
7	2021-22	26
8	2022-23	46
9	2023-24	28
	Total	240

Detail of projects supported for research activities under Central Sector Scheme (CSS) for Conservation, Development and Sustainable Management of Medicinal Plants from the financial year 2015-16 to 2023-24.

S.No.	Research Areas	Number of Projects
i.	Post-harvest Management, assessment of heavy metals and integrated pest management	16
ii.	Development of agro-techniques, standardization of nursery techniques and cultivation practices	17
iii.	Intercropping and sustainable production technology	06
Total		39

Number of farmers trained under the scheme of National Medicinal Plants Board, Ministry of Ayush through project mode on Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) and Good Field Collection Practices (GFCPs).

S.No.	Scheme Name/Component name	Number of farmers trained
1.	Central Sector Scheme (CSS) for Conservation, Development and Sustainable Management of Medicinal Plants.
	Farmers trained under the projects supported for Information Education and Communication (IEC) activities from the financial year 2015-16 to 2023-24.	14352
	Farmers trained under Voluntary Certification Scheme for Medicinal Plant Produce (VCSMPP) project (project approved during the financial year 2018-19).	4408

This information was given by the Minister of State (IC) for Ayush Shri Prataprao Jadhav in the Lok Sabha in a written reply to a question today.