Cultivation of aromatic plants has given the farmers of Himachal Pradesh a new lease of life, by doubling their farm incomes.
Context
Cultivation of aromatic plants has given the farmers of Himachal Pradesh a new lease of life, by doubling their farm incomes.
What are aromatic plants?
- Aromatic plantsare special kind of plants which are known and used for their aroma and flavour.
- Many of them are also used for medicinal purposes.
- Theyare from a numerically large group of economically important plants.
- Aromaticcompounds are present in plantse. in root, wood, bark, foliage, flower, fruit, seed etc.
How it has been done?
- Farmers in the Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh extracted essential oil from the improved variety of wild marigold (Tagetesminuta).
Wild Marigold
- Wild Marigold is a marigold species, and is native to the southern half of South America.
- Wild Marigold is naturalized in the Himalayas, and can be seen wild even above 2000 m elevation.
- It is an erect annual herb, 1-2 m high, which is usually single stemmed or lightly branched. Leaves are finely divided into long narrow lobes.
- Flowers are very small, enclosed within a green sheath, in dense terminal clusters. Seeds are black, linear and 5-8 mm long.
- The whole plant is strongly and unpleasantly aromatic.
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- The profit from wild marigold oil has doubled the income of farmers as compared to traditional maize, wheat and paddy crops.
- The extracted oil is being sold at Rs. 9500/kg and used in preparing perfumes and essences by pharmaceutical industries.
- The income of farmers which was around Rs. 40,000-50,000 per hectare from traditional crops have increased to about Rs. 1,00,000 per hectare by cultivation and extraction of wild marigold oil.
States growing aromatic plants
- Highest area under crop: Among states, Rajasthan is having highest area under medicinal and aromatic crops with a share followed by Uttar Pradesh.
- Production: In case of production, Madhya Pradesh ranks first followed by Rajasthan.
Important schemes/missions for Aroma crops
- Aroma and Phyto-Pharmaceutical Mission: It was launched in 2016 to boost cultivation of aromatic crops like lavender, rosemary and lemon grass and medicinal plants like ashwagandha and satavar, keeping in view plight of farmers involved in traditional agriculture and their flight from rural areas due to climate change.
- Phyto-Pharmaceutical Mission: The mission targets several economically important medicinal plants including kalmegh, ashwagandha, satavar, senna, silybum, curcuma and swertia.
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