Saving herbal medicines

Domestic and global threats hit both supply and demand sides

India’s herbal medicine industry is facing some daunting challenges including the imposition of stringent quality and regulatory standard by the United States and European Union (EU) and a growing shortage of raw material at home. The latest export hurdle is a move by the EU mandating all traditional medicines to be registered with healthcare regulatory agencies in EU member countries. Though manufacturing companies have already begun filing for registration, they are finding the process costly, cumbersome and time-consuming. Since there is no single registration authority, exporters have to expend time and money approaching different agencies in each country.

On the domestic front, there are two problems. First, the availability of medicinal herbs from the wild is shrinking, in the wake of degradation of forests and indiscriminate exploitation, and their cultivation by farmers is going out of vogue. And second, India’s rich and diverse herbal forest resources have become the target of poachers and illegal exporters. Many valuable healer plants have consequently become extinct or are on the verge of vanishing. Naturalists have identified over 750 herbal species that face an uncertain future owing to reckless exploitation. The World Wildlife Fund has put several herbal plants of Indian origin on the critically endangered list. On the other hand, unabated deforestation, urbanisation and climate change are coming in the way of herbal farming. Little wonder then that Karnataka, one of the traditional hubs of the herbal medicine industry, is witnessing an exodus of manufacturing units from the state. In fact, medicine manufacturers from other parts of the country, who have conventionally been sourcing a wide range of herbs from Karnataka and areas around it, notably the Western Ghats, are also now turning to the Himalayan region and neighbouring countries like Nepal and Afghanistan in search of herbs. Several of around 180 large, medium and small enterprises producing Ayurvedic and Unani medicines in Karnataka have shifted their manufacturing activity to states like Uttarakhand, Bihar and Chhattisgarh where many herbs are still available in the wild and are also cultivated by farmers, thanks to sops offered by the state governments.

However, this hopeful situation may not last long with forests even in these states running the risk of denudation of their medicinal herbal flora owing to inadequate monitoring and regulation and, more importantly, a lack of knowledge among the forest staff about the need to protect therapeutic plant species. Given that the domestic and global demand for herbal medicines is growing rapidly, it is necessary to ensure sustainable tapping of herbal resources in forest areas so that the production base is not eroded. Besides, it is also necessary to promote commercial cultivation of herbs by tribals and farmers to supplement supplies. This may require ensuring adequate availability of seeding material and extending the needed knowhow on agronomic practices for growing herbs to farmers. The proposal to set up exclusive production-cum-promotion zones for herbal cultivation to cater to the needs of the herbal medicine industry and the exporters certainly appears worthy of consideration.