Cultivation of medicinal plants for production of raw materials for industries can be taken up as an alternative land use system or mixed cropping system on existing farm and forestry lands. To promote cultivation of medicinal plants, Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP) has developed a number of high yielding varieties, worked out agro-technologies and processing technologies for them. Profitable cultivation of medicinal plants can be practiced by farmers/ companies/ entrepreneurs along with traditional agricultural horticultural crops as sole crops, intercrops, sequential crops etc. They can be profitably intercropped in plantations/ orchards. Medicinal plants are a source of biomolecules with therapeutic potential and as a lead to develop new drugs. Herbal medicines are considered as safer, better physiological compatibility and cost-effective. India is a gold mine of medicinal plants and a rich repository of traditional medicinal knowledge. Demand for the medicinal plant is increasing with expansion in human needs, numbers and trade purpose. Plants are mostly collected from wild sources that may pose a serious situation, along with this loss of biodiversity and forest is another major concern for sustainable supply of medicinal plants in the future. With the increased realization that many species are collected from wild sources and being over-exploited, agencies (private/public) are recommending bringing the important medicinal plants into cultivation systems. Cultivation of medicinal plant can decrease the amount to which wild populations are harvested, it will also help to preserve plant species from extinction and will promote socio-economic growth. This chapter deals with the medicinal importance and cultivation of yam, sarpagandha, opium, periwinkle, aloe, guggal, belladonna, nux vomica, medicinal solanum, aonla/amla, senna, isubgol, stevia, coleus, acorus, and ocimum.
Cultivation
