Prospects and potential of medicinal and aromatic in india
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Global preference for bio-chemicals and products obtained from herbs has created tremendous opportunities for biomass produc-ers and enterprises that manufacture herbal products. India with a medicinal herbal wealth of 8000 species and aromatic plant treasure of 1200-2500 species has become global destination for phyto-molecules and products. Several technologies are currently available for com-mercial utilization by small and medium enterprises and the international market is ready to accept quality herbal products from India. Introduction Natural products from plants are well known in old world civiliza-tions. International markets have been utilizing products from herbs since several decades. India is one of the earliest civiliza-tions that have recognized the importance of herbal products for disease management, nutrition and beauty enhancement. With the discovery of several new molecules from herbs for treating dreaded diseases like cancer and the relative safety of these products, the global demand for medicinal plant products has increased in recent years. Similarly consumers are preferring cosmetics with aromatic products from plants resulting in higher demand for the raw material. India is sitting on a treasure of 8000 medicinal and 1200-2500 aromatic plants. In the last 50 years, Central and State Government research organizations have de-veloped several technologies for utilizing medicinal and aromatic plants. Small and medium enterprises have already been set up by many entrepreneurs and opportunities exist for new enterpris-es in this field [1-5]. Biomass The primary raw material for plant based products is the biomass of the medicinal and aromatic plants. Biomass is the green or