The government is all set to promote desert medicinal plants such as aloe vera (Aloe barbadensis Miller), Guggul (Commiphora wightii  and others in a big way. 

National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), Ministry of Ayush aims to support farmers through its Regional-cum-Facilitation Centres (RCFCs) in different geographical regions across the country by providing Quality Planting Material (QPM) and training programs on GAP & value addition of these medicinal plants. 

Further, NMPB under its ‘Central Sector Scheme on Conservation, Development and Sustainable Management of Medicinal Plants’ have provided project-based support to State Forest Departments in desert, arid and semi-arid states like Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan for in-situ conservation of medicinal plants in their natural habitats by way of establishing Medicinal Plants Conservation and Development Areas (MPCDAs), Resource Augmentation/ Plantation of medicinal plants species in forest areas through in-situ resource augmentation. 

The financial assistance to State Forest Department in this regard is provided as per the cost norms of the Scheme guidelines provisions.

National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), Ministry of Ayush, Government of India is implementing Central Sector Scheme on ‘Conservation, Development and Sustainable Management of Medicinal Plants’ throughout the country to promote the cultivation of medicinal plants wherein following activities are supported:

1) Information Education & Communication (IEC) activities like Training / Workshops / Seminars/ Conferences etc.

2) Forward and backward linkage in supply chain of medicinal plants (Integrated Component).

3) In-situ conservation / Ex-situ conservation.

4) Livelihood linkages with Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs) / Panchayats / Van Panchayats / Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) / Self Help Groups (SHGs).

5) Research & Development.

6) Promotion, marketing and trade of medicinal plants produce.

In addition, NMPB has launched ‘e-CHARAK’ mobile application as well as web portal for promotion and marketing of medicinal plants/herbs. It is a platform to enable information exchange between various stakeholders mainly farmers involved in the medicinal plants sector across the country. The ‘e-CHARAK’ application supports different local languages and it also provides fortnightly market price of 100 MPs from 25 herbal markets across India. Currently, e-Charak mobile has Registered users-11,119; Total visitors-30565540; Posted items-7,588; Buyer Sellers Interactions-7114690.

The cultivation activities are not supported under the Central Sector Scheme. However, NMPB, Ministry of Ayush has supported projects under Forward and Backward Linkage in Supply Chain of Medicinal Plants (Integrated Component) of existing Central Sector Scheme from the F.Y. 2023-24, wherein project based support is provided for Infrastructure for Quality Planting Material to raise the planting material of medicinal plants for cultivation, Information Education Communication (IEC) activities to aware the farmers, Infrastructure for Post-Harvest Management and Marketing to increase the marketability of the medicinal plants, adding value to the produce, increasing profitability and reducing losses, Quality Testing and Certification of raw material.