Medicinal Plants of Nepal & Its Status, Distribution & Export

Medicinal Plants of Nepal & Its Status, Distribution & Export

Whenever we get sick isn’t it the medicine that comes first in our mind, whenever we see someone having health problem isn’t it the first question “Have u taken the medicine?” that we generally ask. Yes, of course, it is. We have great faith in medicines but we don’t give damn care to know what is in it or how it forms. We know the value of medicines but we don’t give damn care to those medicinal plants which are the principal raw source for preparation of medicines. Medicines are the 2^nd most essential requirement after food for mankind.

Nepal is one of the poor countries in the world which is slowly rising with the per capita income about $200 as well small also in term of area comprising only about 0.01% of the earth. But for sure we are neither poor nor small in term of having gift of nature and having lots of variation in climatic zones is one of them. We have five physiographic zones & six bioclimatic zones. Within the distance of 200km from North to South we can find region having elevation of 67m AMSL to tallest peak of the world i.e. Mount Everest with elevation of 8848m AMSL. Such variation provides plenty of chances for successful growth of lots of plants due to which even being so small in the context of area we comprises about 3% of total worlds fauna and among which medicinal plants comprises great part. Medicinal plants are very important in term of both economy & health. About 28% of the total land of Nepal is occupied by forest which is big reservoir of medicinal plants. The medicinal plants are found growing between the elevations of 100 m to 6,000m AMSL but mostly valuable & threatened medicinal plants are concentrated around the elevation of 35000m AMSL (Acharya et al., 2008). The Himalayan ranges boast of rivers are estimated to having >7000 plant species among which 1463 species are known to possess medicinal value (Shrestha & Tiwari, 1997). According to Department of Medicinal Plants published book “medicinal plants of Nepal” in 1984 there are about 471 medicinal plants. Nepalese Plant Database (NPD) has listed 1624 species of Medicinal plants which are available in cultivated & wild forms. Rajbhandari and Joshi (1998) have compiled 364 weed species occurring in various crop field of Nepal among which 82 species are known to having medicinal properties. The family Orchidaceae has 96 genera and 361 species reported from Nepal among which 53 Nepalese orchid species carry medicinal value. About 700 species of Mushrooms are found in Nepal among which 17 species are known to have medicinal value. Atis (Aconitum), Bojho (Acorus), Yarshagumba (Cordyceps), Orchid, Lauth salla (Taxas baccata), Paanchaule (Dactylorhiza), Aparagus, Rauwolfia etc are very important and valuable medicinal plants found in Nepal.

Nepal is very rich in medicinal plants but the problem is we really lack the knowledge about lots of medicinal plants & their values. About >12000 species of Medicinal plants are believed to be present in Nepal but we have hardly listed around 2000 species with medicinal properties. Among the 41 species of medicinal plants of Nepal, CITES listed 3 species as critically endangered, 14 species as endangered, 23 species as vulnerable, 3 species as nearly threatened, 1 species as least concern & 7 species as having data efficient (IDRC and CAMP Workshop, Pokhara, 2000). Unscientific harvesting, lack of research, lack of cultivation & commercialization, illegal transportation, inappropriate government policy, unawareness of common people, carelessness of responsible person, inappropriate quarantine measures etc are the measure reason for the such condition. Even our quarantine officers have very poor knowledge about those endangered medicinal plants.

Government has banned Paanchaule, Okhar & Kutki for the export and Jatamansi, Sarpagandha, Sugandhakokila, Sugandhawal, Jhyau, Talispatra, Lauth salla & Yarsagomba banned for export without processing as specified. Just making the policy to banned such endangered plant is not going to save them. It is only going to increase their illegal export. So cultivation of such high value medicinal plants is necessary. Proper cultivation and export could be the key for raising our dull economy of nation. With increasing in the knowledge of importance of natural products & negative sides of chemically produced products demands of medicinal plants increasing day by day. According to the Trade and Export Promotion Centre (TEPC), exports of medicinal herbs almost doubled during the first seven months to Rs 989.79 million year on year. Nowadays medicinal plants are not using for the preparation of medicines only but also for many other products like cosmetics, health care products, foods etc. Nepal exports an estimated 6,000 tonnes of herbal products annually legally and tonnes of medicinal plants are being exported every year illegally from Nepal. Our major destination for export is India where about 95% of our products are being exported and other countries like Germany, Australia, Canada, USA etc are the minor destinations for our medicinal plants. Millions of money are being earned just by the collecting wildly available medicinal plants then we can imagine how much we can earn if we can bring them in cultivation and supply to other nation. For example high grade Yarsagumba sells for Rs 2 million per kg in the local markets and are three times higher in overseas markets.  Our major part of yield is being exported illegally, we need some solid policy and the target set to stop this. Making policy to banned the export of few medicinal plants, arresting some people involves in illegal export is not going to solve this problem. And who is going to set this, that’s the matter of concern. Who is going to bring them under cultivation, protect them, control their illegal export those politician who are just fighting for power, chair & money or those people in the position of making policy who are careless or those quarantine officer who barely can distinguish those medicinal plants or we commoner?