Abstract
There is an increasing global demand for medicinal plants. Nevertheless, the nature and scale of processing in national-level medicinal plant production networks, and how this can contribute to sustainable development, are poorly understood. This study (i) uncovers and explains the emergence of the Nepalese medicinal plant secondary processing sector, (ii) characterises the enterprises and identify the obstacles they face, (iii) quantifies the volumes and values of processed species and end markets, and (iv) discusses the potential to contribute to sustainable economic development. Empirical data were generated from key informant interviews and qualitative (n = 13) and quantitative (n = 79) semi-structured surveys of medicinal plant processing enterprises. In 2014–15, the sector purchased 3679 metric tonnes of air-dry raw materials (across 67 products) for USD 4.0 million, producing 494 tonnes of end-products valued at USD 11.2 million. The sector is characterised by small enterprises. Rising domestic demand drove the increase in the number of enterprises. Key business obstacles were export barriers, low access to technology, infrastructure and service barriers, labour challenges, socio-economic and political instability, and the inefficient bureaucracy. The actions required to change from being a supplier of raw materials and producer of lower-value domestic consumer products to integrating into the global economy as an exporter of higher-value products that are sustainably sourced are discussed.
Highlights
There is general agreement in the literature that the global demand for medicinal plants is substantial and growing
Despite all these indications of high and growing medicinal plant demand, there are almost no studies of medicinal plant enterprises: what characterises such enterprises? What are their economic contributions? What obstacles and opportunities do they face? Most related studies focus on household incomes, cultivation, or value chains [11,12] with medicinal plant enterprises and secondary processing remaining in the dark
Demand for medicinal plants from Nepal has increased manifold in the last two decades and while there has been some growth in secondary processing this falls far short of the potential due to a string of domestic constraints
Summary
There is general agreement in the literature that the global demand for medicinal plants is substantial and growing. It appears that traditional medicine is used across a wide range of diseases, including, in some cases, in the face of epidemics [10] Despite all these indications of high and growing medicinal plant demand, there are almost no studies of medicinal plant enterprises: what characterises such enterprises? There is, a limited but growing body of literature documenting the transformation and commercialisation of traditional medicine systems, aimed at making standardised high-quality products widely available This includes description of the transformation and increase in medicinal plant demand in Tibet [20], driven by new legislative requirements for the Tibetan system of healing (Sowa Rigpa), apparently linked to concerns regarding drug and patient safety. A similar pattern has been documented in South Africa where higher medicinal plant consumption is associated with the commercialisation of traditional knowledge and the development of new products as part of an emerging formal natural products sector [25]
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