Uttar Pradesh seeks MSP for medicinal plants

The Uttar Pradesh government has sought minimum support price (MSP) for medicinal and aromatic plants (MAP).

“Farmers need a safety net of MSP before they adopt the cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants in a big way, since the demand for herbal and natural products is rising in the world,” UP agricultural production commissioner Anis Ansari told Business Standard.

The international herbal products market is estimated at $62 billion. However, India’s share in the global export market is just 0.5 per cent.

The trade in herbs and medicinal plants in UP at present stands at Rs 5,000 crore per annum. Though the growth rate ranged between 7 per cent and 15 per cent over the last couple of years, exports from the state is a paltry under Rs 7 crore.

“In Uttar Pradesh, over 250,000 hectares come under herbs cultivation, especially in Ghazipur, Sitapur, Kannauj, Aligarh, Sonebhadra and Mirzapur districts,” he added.

Earlier, Ansari addressed a national conference on ‘MAP: Roadmap for improving production, processing, marketing and export’ organised by the PHD Chamber in association with the National Horticulture Board and Central Institute of MAP here recently.

The three-day event was attended by about 200 farmers from Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, UP, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Rajasthan.

Ansari stressed on developing processing, credit and marketing facilities for MAP before the full potential in the sector could be realised. Citing the example of mentha cultivation, he said the remunerative prices had seen farmers shifting to mentha from traditional crops because of high demand and export potential, although there was little government support.

PHD Chamber resident director Brig Amitabh urged the UP government to set up a flowers auction centre at Noida to tap the Rs 600 crore market in the National Capital Region.