Two-day seminar on medicinal plants at NIPER

MOHALI: Professor KS Aulakh, Vice Chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University has called on the farmers of the region to change from ''high volume crop'' pattern to ''high value crop''.
''Our wheat paddy crop pattern and farming techniques are outdated and depleting the groundwater. The short term crops like herbal plants can bring variety and earn handsome amount for period between wheat-paddy cycle," said Aulakh.He was speaking after inaugurating the two-day workshop-cum-personal contact programme on cultivation of Medicinal Plants at the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), on Friday.
The aim of the workshop is to educate the farmers of the region about the need to grow medicinal herbs and plants along with the agro-techniques of cultivating them. Aulakh also stressed on the need for growing these herbs under the contract farming system so that the farmer who is taking a bold step of coming out of the paddy wheat cycle is assured of a good return for his crop.
Dr CL Kaul, director of NIPER said that although India has a large reservoir of known medicinal plants, the global acceptance of our produce is very low because of the poor quality. The potential of these herbs in not realised due to non-availability of plantlets or expertise on cultivation. Of the total world trade in medicinal plants worth more than 620 billion dollars India''s share is a measly Rs 5500 million.
He said that NIPER has procured the germplasm of more than 170 species of herbs, shrubs and trees that are medically important and is working towards having a repository of 500 medicinal plants which are found in the region. NIPER has also developed 10 crops that can be grown along with rice and wheat. The farmers who have come to the workshop can buy these saplings and also get information on how to cultivate them. NIPER is laying stress on growing the endangered species.
A book having details of the medicinal plants, their uses and methods of cultivation along with the names, addresses and contact numbers of firms, which utilise them as raw materials, was also released on the occasion by professor Aulakh.