Badasahi: Though the state government these days encourages ayurvedic method of treatment by appointing Ayush doctors in hospitals and asks farmers to grow medicinal plants to meet the requirement of ayurvedic drugs, hardly any farmer in Mayurbhanj district shows interest in it, a report said.
Even as the district is home to hundreds of varieties of medicinal plants, the traditional farmers here are reluctant to take up herbal farming in the absence of encouragement, lack of training and technical assistance, it was learnt.
The soil of this block is suitable for the growth of herbal plants like basil, aloe vera, aswagandha, apamarang, swetapuruni, basanga, pedipedikia, mutha, bajramuli, dudura, bisalyakarani and others. The flood water of Budhabalanga and Gangahar – the two rivers flowing through this block- brings different types of soil with it which has made it suitable for better growth of medicinal plants.
“The farmers having land along these two rivers can make more profit by growing herbal plants than traditional paddy farming,” said assistant agriculture officer Nilamadhab Das.
According to department sources, there are 37,000 hectares of cultivable land in this block of which kharif crop is grown in 26,000 hectares and rabi crop in rest. Irrigation facilities are available only in 10,300 hectares of land. While 80 per cent of the farmers raise paddy, 15 per cent cultivate either vegetables or pulses and the other five per cent grow oilseeds. Though the vegetable farmers make some profit, paddy growers incur losses due to lack of satisfactory increase in the minimum support price of paddy.
“Farmers can make profit if they are encouraged to grow herbal plants,” said Khitish Kumar Dash, secretary of Maa Tulasidasi Krushak Sangh, a farmers’ outfit.
“We don’t have the courage to grow medicinal plants as there is no marketing facility,” said Jayant Rout of Nischantpur village.
One can see herbal plants like begunia, arakha, patalgaruda and kuduchi across the district and people have trees such as karanja, neem, bel, gambhari, ganga shiuli and nageswar at their backyards.
“Farmers don’t show interest in herbal farming as there is no ayurveda-related industrial unit in the district,” observed Dr Sanat Kumar Dash, Ayush physician of Badasahi government hospital.
