Agro-economics of medicinal herbs and spices as crop
2005
Aslam, M. | Baloch, Q.B.,Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Islamabad(Pakistan)
Medicinal herbs and spices are re-emerging as a health aid, due to themounting costs of prescription-drugs. These are providing livelihood to asignificant number of peoples in the rural as well as urban communities. Althoughmore than 1000 species of various medicinal plants have been identified but, dueto over-exploitation of the medicinal herbs and spices from the natural resources,some of the species are threatened with extinction from the ecosystems. In theinternational market, the opportunities are emerging day by day for the trade ofmedicinal herbs and spices to fetch foreign exchange for the country. Introductionof medicinal herbs and spices as crops need to focus on the cultivation,conservation and trade aspects of the medicinal herbs and spices in various agro-ecological zones of the country. Studies on economic benefit of growing majormedicinal herbs revealed that farmers can earn net Rs. 12,040 to 26,200 per acre.There is a need to demonstrate and educate the farmers that medicinal herbs andspices could be grown as crops. The growing of such crops is of immenseeconomic benefit to the farmers. It is important to highlight the opportunity andagro- economics of growing medicinal herbs and spices as crop, so thatdependence on import of 90 percent of the country's medicinal requirement can beminimized
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