Herbal gardens
Bengaluru: The AYUSH sector’s rising demand for biological resources has prompted the Karnataka Medicinal Plants Authority (KMPA) to take up a detailed demand and supply assessment with the preliminary data pointing to industries consuming tonnes of herbs and plant resources belonging to 37 species annually.
The Karnataka Biodiversity Board has identified 6,771 plant taxa of 213 families. About 2,247 taxa are used in various medical systems.
Over the last few years, the use of plant resources in ayurveda, dietary supplements and other medicinal systems like unani and siddha has increased due to rising popularity of such products. However, there has been no authoritative assessment of the amounts being utilised by the industries and their supply chains.
A preliminary study based on the data submitted by the companies to the KBB has thrown 37 raw materials were in high demand, including aerial parts of five species, 10 fruits, leaf from seven species, seeds from seven species and one species for gum resin.
Experts have warned that unscientific extraction combined with lack of monitoring means such species will soon become threatened. This was the case with Rauvolfia serpentina which was classified as endangered due to overexploitation.
KMPA chief executive officer S Venkatesan acknowledged the problem. “We have proposed a detailed assessment to understand the species in demand and assess their conservation status. In addition to this, identifying gaps in supply will help us encourage farmers to cultivate such species. This will be a win-win situation for both conservation and farm economy,” he said.
The research appraisal committee of the Forest Department has welcomed the project. The authority is now working on securing the funding required to hire experts, he said.
M D Subash Chandran, former member of the KBB, said such assessment was urgently needed to ensure that people who are conserving such species will be rewarded under the access benefit sharing scheme of the Biodiversity Act.
“In the case of Garcinia cambogia, hundreds of tonnes are collected from Uttara Kannada district. Most of the collection is unscientific and destructive as the plant is damaged. Moreover, drying the fruit requires an enormous quantity of firewood which is again extracted from forest. Those extracting it and drying it, however, are getting a small fraction of the fruit’s market value,” he said.