Board issues advisory on medicinal plants for Himachal farmers

Mandi, March 26

The National Medicinal Plants Board has issued an advisory on medicinal plants for the farmers of the state.

Dr Arun Chandan, Director, Regional-Cum-Facilitation Centre of the National Medicinal Plants Board (RCFC-NMPB), Jogindernagar, said some ‘technical’ persons had misled farmers to grow a medicinal plant locally under the name of ‘Sundh’.

He said farmers from Himachal and sometimes from other states as well had come with an inquiry that they had grown ‘Sundh’, but were unable to find a suitable market for the produce. He added that farmers revealed during discussions that they were growing this plant for the first in the area on the advice of some ‘technical’ persons.

The RCFC-NMPB director said, “Interestingly, these farmers claim ‘Sundh’ is a rhizome of Hedychium spicatum locally known as ‘Kapur Kachri’. These rhizomes are morphologically similar to the rhizomes of ginger.”