Promotion of medicinal plants under NMPB
National Medicinal Plants Board expands conservation, cultivation support, and supply-chain linkages for medicinal plants
- The National Medicinal Plants Board is the institutional anchor for medicinal plant promotion, conservation, and supply-chain support under the Ministry of Ayush.
- The medicinal plants scheme combines in-situ conservation, ex-situ conservation, quality planting material, and market linkage rather than focusing on cultivation alone.
- Joint Forest Management Committees, Panchayats, Van Panchayats, Biodiversity Management Committees, and Self Help Groups are part of the implementation architecture for medicinal plants.
What happened
The National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), under the Ministry of Ayush, is implementing the Central Sector Scheme Conservation, Development and Sustainable Management of Medicinal Plants across India. The Union government says the scheme promotes medicinal plant cultivation, conservation, research, and market linkage.
In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Ayush Shri Prataprao Jadhav said the NMPB also supports training, workshops, seminars, and conferences; forward and backward linkages in the supply chain; in-situ and ex-situ conservation; and livelihood linkages with Joint Forest Management Committees, Panchayats, Van Panchayats, Biodiversity Management Committees, and Self Help Groups.
UPSC can frame this topic around the design of the National Medicinal Plants Board scheme, the role of conservation with livelihood generation, and the challenge of building viable forward and backward linkages for a non-timber forest produce value chain.
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