Vardhan urges farmers to adopt improve technologies

Union Minister Harsh Vardhan today urged farmers and entrepreneurs to adopt improved technologies for cultivation of better varieties of medicinal and aromatic plants to raise their income.
Speaking at a Kisan Mela (farmers' fair) organized at CSIR-Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants CSIR-CIMAP in Lucknow, he said this would also help in production of quality raw material demanded by user industries.
Stating that medicinal and aromatic plants are the "valuable green wealth" of the country, he said these should be sustainably used for creating livelihood opportunities of poor people residing in rural areas.
Vardhan, who is Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, said that there are immense possibilities for promotion and production of medicinal and aromatic plants and industries by startups.

He called upon the scientists to develop improved technologies for conservation and cultivation of these plants keeping in view the changing climatic conditions and limited as well as diminishing agriculture resources.
Vardhan said that today people are inclined towards the use of drugs and cosmetics made from natural resources as the ill-effects have been reported from the use of synthetic drugs world over.

It is also necessary to make initiatives to improve trust of the people towards herbal drugs, he added.
The Minister said that scientists should standardize the ayurvedic drugs so that their use can be increased in health care of the poor people.

Others who attended the event included Naveen Chandra Bajpei, Deputy Chairman, State Planning Commission, UP, Praveer Kumar, Agriculture Production Commissioner, UP, Sudeep Kumar, Head Planning and Performance Division of CSIR and R A Vishwakarma, Director, CSIR-IIIM, according to a release.
About 4000 farmers and entrepreneurs from UP, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Odisha and others states of the country participated in the Mela, the release added.