The potential of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants cultivation to develop the Agri-business in Mizoram

Abstract

India is one of country which is known for its agricultural products and currently more than 70% population still living in rural area. India is fully blessed with different kinds of agro-climatic regions. Production wise our country is standing at second rank throughout the world. Some of agricultural products from India are very high in demand in many parts of the globe. Counting its agro-climatic regions, the North East Region (NER) is another hot spot acquired a land of agriculture as well as forest area. The each states of NER having its own peculiarity for various agro products. They used to cultivate many crops which include export level to their daily delicacy. Ginger, Turmeric, Chili, Beans and bamboo products are produced in large quantities. As per the statistics, Mizoram is the highest ginger producing state (8.4 tons/hec) followed by Arunachal Pradesh (7.9 tons/hec), Assam and Nagaland (6.99 tons/hec) among the states of NER. Apart from cultivation, 60% area of NER comes under forest cover, especially Mizoram, where more than 80% of the geographical area of the state is under forest and tree cover. Looking into the prospects of diverse agricultural land settings and forest cover including biodiversity of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs), Mizoram could be potential state in relation to agribusiness. There is a tremendous scope for MAPs sector in the state. Valuable MAPs like Homalomena aromatica, Alpinia galanga, Cinnamomum tamala, C. verum, Mentha arvensis, Artemisia pollens, Ocimum sanctum, Elsholtzia communis and many others are traditionally cultivated on very small scale. Thus, there is a need to introduce good agricultural practices (GAPs) for increasing the raw materials/yield to establish the agri-market in Mizoram.