NURSERY DEVELOPMENT
One of the biggest obstacles preventing people from cultivating rare species of
medicinal plants is the lack of seeds or seedlings available in the market (the
other main obstacle is lack of marketing infrastructure, which I will expand on
later).
Many of the plant species grow in very remote areas and their seeds are very hard
to collect. It is therefore essential to develop nurseries in order to multiply
plants and collect seeds in more controlled conditions.
Most of the medicinal plants that naturally grow at a high altitude can be grown at a much lower height, however the lower it is grown the less potent the medicinal properties of the plant will be. Research carried out by scientists has shown that the optimum cultivation height for high altitude species such as picrorrhiza kurro, aconitum heterophyllum and nardostachys jatamansi is approximately 3000m, however for the multiplication of plants and collection of seeds nurseries can be developed at a lower altitude, yet still not less than 2000-2200m.
Much of land at this altitude in the Kullu Valley is owned by the Forest Department, and the only way it can be used by villagers is by forming a Village Forest Development Committee as part of the Sanjhi Van Yojna (Joint Forest Management) scheme.
Joint Forest Management & Village Forest Development Committees (VFDCs)
The basic idea of JFM is for the forest department to provide villagers with greater incentives to plant trees and manage forest resources in a sustainable manner. This is done through VFDCs, who are given certain rights to use forest land for activities that contribute towards conservation or sustainable income generation.
A
VFDC can be created in every ward, which is normally made up of several hundred
people, i.e. a small village or a small section of a larger village. Each committee
has a governing body made up of about 20 people, who are voted in by the rest
of A VFDC meeting in Chajogi village the ward.
One of the rights given to VFDCs is to be able to select areas of forest land for medicinal plant nurseries and cultivation. In August 2003 Ananda helped the villagers of Chajogi village set up their own VFDC (see photo above) so that they could use an area of land above the village at an altitude of 2200m to establish a medicinal plant nursery.
Development of Nursery above Chajogi Village
The photograph at the top of the page shows the beginnings of the VFDC medicinal plant nursery above Chajogi (photo taken Dec 2003).
Certain seeds and root cuttings will be germinated in the polyhouse and transplanted out into beds on the surrounding land, where they shall grow and again be divided and multiplied. Other species can easily be propagated outside and do not require use of the polyhouse. At present the nursery measures approximately 3 bigars, but this area is likely to be expanded during 2004.
Seeds and root cuttings for the nursery have been collected by selected members of the village. These are normally shepherds or herb collectors, i.e. those people who have the most knowledge of the plants' natural habitat.
Some of the rarer species, such as nardostachys jatamansi will have to be purchased from other nurseries that have been developed either by other NGOs, the forest department or scientific research institutes. After a few years though we hope that the nursery can become self-sustaining and it will no longer be necessary to collect plant material from the wild or to purchase it from other nurseries.
Initially the seeds and seedlings will be used for cultivation by the VFDC itself, but as time goes on the plant material will also become available for others to purchase, either for other VFDCs or for farmers to cultivate on private land. This will be a source of income for the VFDC and will help the nursery cover its own costs.
Documentation and Traceability
Every plant that is produced in the nursery will have a record of where it was collected from, who collected it and when. This process will be continued through each stage so that when it finally reaches the buyer it can be traced back to its very source. In this way people at every stage of the process can be assured that the raw material has been produced in a sustainable manner.
Vermicomposting
All
the plants grown in the nursery or cultivated at the top of the mountain will
be entirely organic, i.e. grown without the use of any chemical inputs. It is
therefore essential to nourish the soil with compost. In order to do this we are
introducing vermicomposting techniques, i.e. using worms to break down organic
matter into compost, both at the nursery itself and at the village level. Vermicompost
made by villagers will be purchased by Ananda and used in the nursery.
Development of other Nurseries in Naggar and Hallan
Depending on the resources were available to us during the year 2006, we have establish a new medicinal plant nurseries at Rumsu village . Already there is interest in Hallan village to establish their own group and set up a nursery on forest land above the village as we have done in Chajogi and Rumsu.
We have also contributed to set up a nursery in collaboration with the International Roerich Memorial Trust on IRMT land above the Uruswati folk art museum in Naggar. This is tied in closely with the exhibition of Roerich's medicinal plant documentation and is likely to receive a lot of attention from the public due to the large number of people, including the CM Himachal Prdeash, who visits the museum every year.
There are also a wide range of opportunities, with the
help of Ananda, for private smallholders to set up their own nurseries and support
themselves by selling seeds and seedlings for cultivation. Many people own suitable
land, simply they require a small amount of investment to bring water from streams
for irrigation and we are providing consultancy to farmres in this contaxt. One
of the aims of Ananda is therefore to provide farmers with access to funds to
make this investment. We have signed a MoU with village Co-operative society Naggar
to provide small scale loan to interested parties.