MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC PLANT RESOURCES OF NORTHEAST INDIA
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008Introduction:
The use of plants in curing various human ailments is known since time immemorial. In recent past, despite considerable progress made in synthetic drugs, plant constituents are still considered as major sources of valuable medicines. It is estimated that close to 15% of the 70,000 known plant species have medicinal properties. Fransworth and Soejarto (1991) and Pei (2001) reported that about 70-80% of people worldwide rely chiefly on traditional, largely herbal medicine to meet their primary healthcare needs. India has a rich heritage of traditional system of medicine that is mostly based on formulations derived from herbs, shrubs, trees, vines and some animal products. The country has 45,000 different plant species and 15000 medicinal plants that include 7000 plants used in Ayurveda, 700 in Unani, 600 in Siddha, 450 in Homeopathy and 30 in modern medicines. The Himalayas and the Western Ghats are exceptionally rich in medicinal plants. A survey conducted by the All India Coordinated Research Project on Ethnobiology (AICRPE) during the last decade recorded over 8000 species of wild plants used by the tribals and other traditional communities in India for treating various health problems.
India, one among the 12 mega bio-diversity hotspot countries of the world having only 2 % of world’s total land area, accounts for over 11% of the recorded plant species of the world. Traditionally it produces enormous plant based raw material, which is used globally as ingredients or raw materials in various drugs, pharmaceuticals, perfumery, aroma chemicals and related industries. The Indian drug industry is estimated to have an annual turn over of Rs. 4000/- crores. The medicinal plant industry is on the verge of entering into a high growth phase particularly in herbs required for production of Ayurvedic medicines. As per a report of World Health Organization (WHO), there is about US$ 62 billion market turnover of herbal plant products and it is estimated to increase to US$ 5 trillion by 2050. The market of Ayurvedic medicines is estimated to be expanding 20% annually in India. Beside, it plays a significant role in the subsistence economy of the rural people, especially those living in the rugged and impoverished hills, mountains and rural interiors. Therefore the value of medicinal herbs to human livelihoods is essentially infinite.
Northeast India comprises the states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim is known for its rich biological and cultural diversity and the unique Brahmaputra river system. Based on its physiography and biological composition, the region can broadly be differentiated into the eastern Himalayas, Northeast hills and Brahmaputra plains. Its unique situation at the confluence of the Indo-Malayan, Indo-Chinese and Indian bio-geographical regions coupled with its diverse physiography has generated a profusion of habitats, which harbours diverse biota with high-level endemism. The entire region is a part of Indo-Myanmar biodiversity hotspot, one of 25 such hotspots in the world. The region is home of over one hundred tribal communities with distinct socio-cultural settings and a large percentage of the population is dependent on traditional natural resource-based livelihood sustenance. Its strategic location at the confluence of south, southeast and East Asia made it an important gateway between peoples of the region as well as isolates it from the rests part of the country.
A wide range of physiography, eco-climatic conditions, varied vegetation and forest types adequately expressed themselves in giving rise to rich gene pool both of wild and cultivated plant species. The region exhibits innumerable varieties and kinds of orchids, horticultural plants, bamboos, canes, dye, fibre/resin yielding plants, wild relatives of cultivated plants and blessed with a matchless wealth of medicinal plant.
A cornucopia of herbal wealth is exists in different parts of northeastern states extending from the dry alpine scrub zone and sub-tropical zone in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim to tropical moist deciduous forest and tropical wet evergreen forest in Assam and Tripura. The physiographic divisions, viz. Meghalaya plateau, the northeastern hills and basins, and Brahmaputra valley along with the diverse ethnic groups with their own faiths, beliefs and experiences on plants, facilitate the region to be a veritable treasure house of medicinal plants and provide suitable conditions for growth.
Plant folk medicines used in northeast India alone represent more than 950 species reported as a result of more than 150 ethnobotanic case studies. There are over 20 most prominently used medicinal plant species found in North-east India. A large number of medicinal and aromatic plants having export potentialities and trade values are found in the region and are the source of some specific ingredients of reputed pharmaceutical values throughout the world.
Much of the tropical plants like Adhatoda zeylanica, Centella asiatica, Emblica officinalis, Piper mullesua, Terminalia bellirica, T. chebula and many others are found in lower and mid hill regions of all the states. The sub-tropical species such as Acorus calamus, Terminalia chebula, Sapindus pinnatus, Melia azadiracta, Solanum khasianum, Aspagarus racemosus, Rauvolfia serpentina, Dioscorea bulbifera, Aristolochia indica, etc. temperate species such as Swertia chirayata, Taxus baccata, Valerina wallichii, Angelica glauca, Glycyrriza glabra, Tagetus minuta, Viola odorata, Sapindus pinnatus, Rubia cordifolia, Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Zanthoxylum armatum, Valerina jatamansi, Hippophae rhamnoides, Artemesia vulgaris, etc. and alpine species like Aconitum ferox, Podophyllum hexandrum, Picrorhiza kurrooa, Nardostachys jatamanshi, Bergenia purpurascens, etc.
Realizing the importance and potential of medicinal plants, North Eastern Development Finance Corporation (NEDFi) initiated a scheme of commercializing a few high value medicinal and aromatic plants such as Patchouli (Pogostamon cablin) and Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens) as the starting crops as these plants are in demand at national/international markets. Cultivation and farming of medicinal plants require better understanding of the agro-climatic and edaphic condition, propagation and other management techniques. The indigenous communities have a tradition of practicing mixed farming systems that includes herbal species. Therefore, organic cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants especially applying and certified farming concepts has a greater scope in the region. Unlike the other parts of the country, in Northeast India medicinal plants are collected from wild sources and there is lack of effort on scientific farming. Many government organizations and research institutions like State Forest Research Institute (SFRI) Arunachal Pradesh, Regional Research Laboratory (RRL), Jorhat have come forward with suitable agro technology of about 35 medicinal plants in the region. However a full documentation of medicinal plants of the region and development of protocols for farming of each species are yet to be developed. The National Medicinal Plant Board (NMPB) has identified and prioritized 32 species for large-scale cultivation, which are suited to diverse agro-climatic zones of the country. These plants can be grown in almost any type of land like homesteads, community and village lands, rural areas, vicinity of agricultural and horticultural fields, jhum fallows, forested locations, etc. in various altitudes. Recently, NEDFi has set up a state of art R & D centre for medicinal and aromatic plants near Guwahati in Assam and is the first of its kind in the region with an aim of deciphering this nature’s bounty into applicable wealth. However, successful cultivation and commercialization needs people participation and transparent financial back up by different financial institution or dynamic investors. It is thus necessary to maintain coordination between government agencies, developmental policies and biodiversity conservation strategies. Policies should maintain critical balance between the ideology of conservation and the imperatives of development to involve local communities as the principal stakeholders of bio-resources.
Tags: commercializing, ethnobiology, folk medicines, herbal wealth, livelihood sustenance, mega bio-diversity hotspot, primary healthcare, rich gene pool, synthetic drugs, World Health Organization
