Economics of Production and Marketing of important Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in Mid Hills of Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

Himachal Pradesh has a rich diversity of medicinal and aromatic plants. These plants have good potential of generating income. Owing to its natural habitat the economics of production of some important medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs), has been examined based on the field level information from the state of Himachal Pradesh. This study was designed to appraise multistage random sampling technique to select the sample of 50 farmers cultivating MAPs. Local and distant markets were selected purposively for conducting marketing study. A total sample of five traders from local markets and five wholesalers from Amritsar market was drawn randomly from the selected markets dealing in MAPs. Cost of cultivation of these medicinal plants was calculated and the financial tools like NPV, BCR, and IRR were applied to determine the financial feasibility of the plantations. The analysis revealed that the net return per hectare was maximum from Stevia ( 173627.29), followed by Safed Musli ( 85462.01), Aloe vera ( 63832.29) and Lemon grass ( 43325.69). The benefit–cost ratio was found to be in the similar trend i.e., Safed Musli (1.30), followed by Stevia (1.27), Aloe vera (1.22) and Lemon grass (1.19). However, the internal rate of return was found to be highest in case of Lemon grass (40%), followed by Aloe vera (36%) and Stevia (32%). Hence the cultivation of MAPs seems to have good returns which farmers can opt instead of growing other plants.