Messrs. Joseph MATHEW, Saju ABRAHAM and Balakrisnan NAIR
Peermade Development Society, Peermade, P.O. IDUKKI, Kerala
India
Abstract
(Not available in French & Russian)
Rural people in the Asian countries are familiar with the medicinal properties of plants growing close to their homes, in the open fields, margin of the water bodies, waste lands and the near by forests. The herbal doctors in the villages are well acquainted with various plants they need for different ailments. The knowledge about these plants and the various formulations made were usually kept as family or professional secrets. They are passed on from the parent to the offspring orally and through demonstrations. Such professional practices are continued even today but many of this precious knowledge were lost as no written records were kept. The objectives of the study were:
A survey of medicinal plants in Idukki district was carried out. 1000 herbarium (434 species) were prepared from the sample collected. Seeds of 169 species and 50 raw drugs were collected and displayed in the medicinal plant museum. The establishment of herbarium, seeds and raw drugs museum is for the purpose of documentation, education, training and research on medicinal plants. The survey Indicates that out of 116 RET species recorded in South India 56 was present in Idukki district. An Ethno-medicinal forest is established in 10-acre land containing 98 species of medicinal plants. These plants were either already existing in the area or introduced. The introduced plants are RET species or locally available ones. The Ethno-medicinal forest has two main objectives A priority list of species to be grown in the EMF is made based on the Ethno-medicinal needs of the local people. The various species grown in EMF is maintained with their natural association as a poly-culture simulating a forest ecosystem. A massive/training programme was undertaken to create awareness in local communities on the urgent need of conservation and sustainable use of medicinal plants, preservation of the local Ethano-medical traditions and people's health culture. The target groups were women, village health workers, self-help groups, Schoolteachers, school children, medicinal plant cultivators and raw drug collectors. Training was given to 13946 persons on the importance and relevance of medicinal plants for the primary health care needs. Preparation of simple traditional formulations for head-ache, cough, fever, cuts, wounds, sore eyes, burning sensations, menstrual disorders, pregnancy care, increasing breast milk, scabies, fungal infections, general immunity, liver tonics and mental tonics using local herbs were also demonstrated. Cultivation of medicinal plants such as Acorus calamus, Alpinia galanga, Curcuma domestica, Kaempferia galanga, Piper longam, Plubago rosea, Pseudarthria viscida and Zingiber officinalis were promoted and taken up by 104 marginal farmers. 25 per cent farmers stooped the cultivation after a short time, 25 per cent continued as they were persuaded and the rest 50 per cent were really motivated and continue active propagation of the species they selected.
Introduction
Rural people in the Asian countries are familiar with the medicinal properties of plants growing close to their homes, in the open fields, margin of the water bodies, waste lands and the near by forests (Rao and Rao 1998). The herbal doctors in the villages are well acquainted with various plants they need for different ailments. The knowledge about these plants and the various formulations made were usually kept as family or professional secrets. They are passed on from the parent to the offspring orally and through demonstrations. Such professional practices are continued even today but many of this precious knowledge were lost as no written records were kept. (Rao and Rao 1998).
The bio-diversity of medicinal plants in India is associated with the rich cultural diversity related to traditional system of medicine. Besides the known reasons for the loss of plant bio-diversity, the disintegration of cultural diversity is also responsible for the destruction of medicinal plants. According to World Health Organization (WHO) more than 80 per cent of the world's population in the developing countries depend on traditional medicine for their primary health care. Over 1.3 billion people in the world can hardly afford to spend any money on modern medicine and therefore have to resort to local medicinal plants for their health needs. Out of the 350,000 higher plants identified so far about 35,000 (the estimates vary) species have at one time or other used by some people or cultures for medicinal purpose. Presently there is a resurgence of natural product-based industries and pharmaceutical products because of the interest created in the developed countries for traditional medicine and natural products. Consequently the traditional medicine has now becoming more costly and unaffordable to the poor. The revitalization of the local health tradition would therefore lead to the conservation of rich traditional knowledge and the species used by the local people. This also ensures availability of effective and cheap health care needs to the local poor.
Twenty-five per cent of all prescription drugs for developed countries consist of unmodified or slightly modified higher plant products. Reserpine from Rauwolfia serpentinaa as a tranquilizer and anti-hypertensive (Schlitter and Plummer 1965, Mukerji 1965, Bein 1970, Kobinger 1984), digoxin and digitoxin from Digitalis as cardiotonic glycosides (Aronson 1984), quinine and quinidine from Cinchona (Szekeres and Papp 1984) for malaria are few examples. Many more medicines from plants are being introduced for treatment of human diseases. Diosgenin from Mexican yam (Dioscorea) which is not directly used as medicine but eventually led to the manufacture of contraceptive pill and corticosteroids (Djerassi, 1984). Vinblastin/vincristin from Catharanthus roses, etoposide and taxol (van Seters 1997) and styrylpyrone derivative (Azimatol et al. 1998) are anticancer drugs. Guglipid a hypolipidaemic agent is prepared from the gum-resin of Commiphora wightii (Satyavati 1991).
Tropical forests are the storehouse of bio-diversity and natural resources. Rainforest contains no less than 60 per cent of all higher plant species known on earth and they provide everything needed for human survival. Through many years of evolution plants have developed large numbers of chemical substance to defend themselves against pest and pathogenic diseases. These chemical substances, at least some of them, can act within the human body against micro-organisms and other causes of diseases. They represent important sources of natural drugs. They are highly complex and their molecular structures surpass the imagination of the chemists and cannot easily be reproduced in the laboratory (van Seters 1997).
Why conservation of medicinal plants?
Well-reasoned arguments were made many years ago to raise public awareness that tropical rain forest and seasonally dry mansoon forest were destroyed in alarming peace. These arguments were largely ignored and today dramatic pleas were made to conserve our bio-diversity. They too are often falling on deaf ears except of a few environmentalist and organizations. The cry of ecological genocide, genetic erosion, biotic degeneration, global crisis, fragmentation, destruction, extinction of our biological heritage, all is consequence of inaction (Krikorian 1998). Nevertheless, the destruction of forest continues faster than ever pace.
Medicinal plants and their natural habitat are under greater threat of over exploitation than ever before. Indian herbal industry has an annual turnover of about 300 million US dollars. The world market of medicinal herbs for skin care and toiletries are worth US $ 1 billion (Farida Binti Ahmad Fadzil 1998). Several tones of medicinal plants are harvested every year from about 165,000 ha forest. An estimate in 1996 shows that India have 100 medium scale industries, over 5000 small scale industries including cottage level, using about 450 species of medicinal plants, 95 per cent of which are collected from wild. More than 40,000 Air Dried Metric Tones (ADMT) of Sida rhombifolia is collected from wild per year and requirement may goes up to 80,000 ADMT in the next 10 years. Rauwolfia serpentina, Dioscoria, and Cassia senna are currently exported at the range of 10,000 to 50,000 ADMT per year. In addition local communities have been traditionally meeting their health needs using over 7000 species. 40,000 registered physicians of Ayurveda, Unnani, Siddha and Amchi systems also use substantial quantities of medicinal plants (Darshan Shankar and Majumdar 1997).
Kerala is one of India's largest producers of traditional medicines. There is an unprecedented sprout of manufacturing units of Ayurvedic products in Kerala and about 1700 manufacturing units are registered with Government. In Kerala alone 8000 to 10,000 ADMT of single species such as Andrographis pamiclata is consumed annually. With the increasing demand of medicinal plants, there is a strong likely good that in the next decade their entire natural source will be wiped out. Little is done to augment their in situ and Ex situ source. Only less than 30 medicinal plant species are under cultivation in sizable acreage in India (Somashekhar and Anandamurthy 2000).
Kerala has the highest population density in India (747 people /km2, 1300 people/km2 in coastal area). Urbanization has cleared the native vegetation from inhibited planes and availability of medicinal plants is mostly confined to the Western Ghats. Southern stretch of Western Ghats is considered as one of the richest pockets of bio-diversity in the world and classified as a ‘Hot spot’ by IUCN. Deforestation has been rampant and the area under forest has shrunk. Encroachment projects and plantations have all contributed to the sorry state of affairs. Plants such as Saraca asoka (Asokam), Conscinium fenestraturn (Maramanjal), Aegle marmalos (Koovalam), Sida cordifolica (Bala), Emblica officinalis (Gooseberry), Tinospora cordifolia (Amruth) and Asperagus recemosa (Sathaveri) which were abundant are now become rare. Therefore clear comprehensive, ecologically sound management plans based on scientific studies and long term strategies and practices should be evolved to ensure conservation and sustainable management of medicinal plants.
The objectives of the study were
Physiography of Idukki district
Idukki district is part of the Western Ghats with steep slopes and undulations. The soil is literate and brown. The altitude is 150 to 950 m, Latitude 10°N, and Longitude 77°E. The area receives rainfall from 2500 mm to 425 mm and the temperature range from 15°C to 30°C. Dry period is December to April. The forest types in Idukki are dry deciduous to moist every seen. The details of the area studied are given in Table 1.
Table 1: The details of the area studied
| Forest area | Division | Altitude (meters) | ||
| Ayyappancoil | Kottayam | 750 | ||
| Painavu | Kothamangalam | 800 | ||
| Thommankuthu | Kothamanagalam | 150 | ||
| Neryamangalam | Munnar | 500 | ||
| Vaguraram | Munnar | 1800 | ||
| Chinnar santury | Marayur | 600 | ||
| Thekkady | Thekkady | 825 | ||
| Koshikkanam | Thekkady | 950 | ||
Establishment of Herbarium, Seed and Raw Drug Centre
A survey of medicinal plants in Idukki district was carried out. 1000 herbarium (434 species) were prepared from the sample collected. Seeds of 169 species and 50 raw drugs were collected and displayed in the medicinal plant museum. The establishment of herbarium, seeds and raw drugs museum is for the purpose of documentation, education, training and research on medicinal plants. The survey Indicates that out of 116 RET species recorded in South India 56 was present in Idukki district.
Ethno-Medicnal Forest (EMF)
An Ethno-medicinal forest is established in 10-acre land containing 98 species of medicinal plants. These plants were either already existing in the area or introduced. The introduced plants are RET species or locally available ones. The Ethno-medicinal forest has two main objectives.
Conservation
A priority list of species to be grown in the EMF is made based on the Ethno-medicinal needs of the local people. The various species grown in EMF is maintained with their natural association as a poly-culture simulating a forest ecosystem. The conservation value is enhanced as same species from various sites are introduced in the EMF, Which would enhance genetic variability.
Education and training
EMF is used as an outdoor center of attraction. The medicinal plants especially trees; shrubs and herbs all are labeled. Pamphlets with suitable information are being made for distribution. The EMF will be used in future as a source of seeds for exchange and commercial purpose.
Nursery
A central nursery was established and 85 species (including the RET species) of medicinal plants were raised for meeting the local requirements of medicinal plants species for EMF.
Community Participation
As peoples participation is essential for any conservation programme the prime objective of the project was to develop activity to motivate and ensure the whole - hearted co-operation of the target group for the revitalization of the tradition health system and information to conserve medicinal plants. In order to document the local health care needs and the traditional health system, 72 traditional healers (Nattuvaildyas) and 225 households were interviewed. We also conducted a participatory assessment workshop involving 76 representatives from 10 villages to understand the primary health problems and health care needs for their villages. A rapid assessment workshop for three days was organized to assess the validity of the information collected on the traditional health care system and the efficacy of the treatment both the doctors and patients view. Sound practices were identified through open and transparent exchange of experiences. 82 knowledgeable women, 15 doctors from various systems medicinal practice such as allopathic, Ayurvedic and siddha, 8 traditional healers (Nattuvaidyas) and members from various organizations participated in the workshop.
It was not easy to implement community management programme in all 70 villages selected for the study simultaneously. Therefore we planed to train the villages stage by stage (table 2). Firstly we have selected 6 villages (including first and second phase) and 16 villages for the next four years (8 in the first half and 8 in the second half). The area covered is given in the figure 1. The 70 villages selected have total population of about 75,000 people.
Table 2: Year wise programme of selection of villages for training
| Year | Phase | No. Villages selected |
| 1995–1996 | First | 3 |
| Second | 3 | |
| 1996–1997 | First | 8 |
| Second | 8 | |
| 1997–1998 | First | 8 |
| Second | 8 | |
| 1998–1999 | First | 8 |
| Second | 8 | |
| 1999–2000 | First | 8 |
| Second | 8 | |
Mode of implementation
The target groups were identified through Peermade Development Society's network. We were able to reach the people through Self Help Group (SHG), Mahila Sangham (women's associations), forming new groups, interaction with PDS other developmental programme and schools. To motivate the people to grow medicinal plants, we offered a reward for people who have maintained a Kitchen Herbal Garden (KHG), and supplied medicinal plants in a subsidized rate and involved them in economic programme.
A massive training programme was undertaken to create awareness in local communities on the urgent need of conservation and sustainable use of medicinal plants, preservation of the local Ethano-medical traditions and people's health culture. We envisaged that this training would eventually lead to people's participation in the conservation of medicinal plants. The target groups were women, village health workers, self-help groups, Schoolteachers, school children, medicinal plant cultivators and raw drug collectors. Training was given to 13946 persons on the importance and relevance of medicinal plants for the primary health care needs. Preparation of simple traditional formulations for head-ache, cough, fever, cuts, wounds, sore eyes, burning sensations, menstrual disorders, pregnancy care, increasing breast milk, scabies, fungal infections, general immunity, liver tonics and mental tonics using local herbs were also demonstrated. To consolidate and co-ordinate this programme 59 meetings were conducted involving all village health workers and the training staffs. Sixteen exhibitions were conducted on medicinal plants and traditional medicines to motivate and induce awareness among local people about the importance of medicinal plant conservation. Cultivation of medicinal plants such as Acorus calamus, Alpinia galanga, Curcuma domestica, Kaempferia galanga, Piper longam, Plubago rosea, Pseudarthria viscida and Zingiber officinalis were promoted and taken up by 104 marginal farmers. 25 per cent farmers stoped the cultivation after a short time, 25 per cent continued as they were persuaded and the rest 50 per cent were really motivated and continue active propagation of the species they selected. Medicinal plants which are used for the preparation of “Murivenna” that is very effective for cuts, wound and ulcers are cultivated and preserved by the community without other motivation. Generally the local people conserve plants that are economic, health and spiritual use.
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