**3.1 Demand and supply position of medicinal plants**

India has very strong traditional health care practices that are represented by the classical systems of medicine like Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, and Swa-rigpa. Besides these traditional heath care practices, there exists a very diverse area-specific and community-specific folk healthcare practices. Both the Indian classical system of medicine and the folk health care systems are highly dependent on the raw herbal drug material derived from a diverse species of medicinal plants, which is estimated to be about 6500 in number [16].

NMPB, during 2001–2002, commissioned a study through Centre for Research, Planning and Action (CERPA) to understand annual trade levels of selected 162 medicinal plant species. The NMPB, then in 2006–2007 commissioned a national study that was carried out by Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT) to assess demand and supply of medicinal plants in India which for the first time highlighted various drawbacks in the herbal drug sector and added more to the existing knowledge and understanding of the subject related to the diversity of raw drugs in trade, their botanical correlation, volume of annually trade drugs, their supply sources and others [16].

**Figure 1** below shows various Industrial uses of Medicinal Plants [17]. Each of these groups can contain a wide range of products like herbal medicinal products, food supplements or dietary supplements, foodstuffs, Cosmetics, etc.

Countries where the highest uses of traditional medicines are practiced include [18]:


A major percentage of raw drugs are used in making plant extracts. This is carried out either by the end product manufacturers or by extract companies. In addition to this, there is an exorbitant demand in developed countries for plant based products including health supplements, herbal health drinks, herbal cosmetics and various other health and personal care products. The current worth of the global market for herbal products is estimated around US\$60 billion per year with a growth rate of 7% [16].

In India, trade in medicinal plants accounts for a turnover of Rs. 2300 crores of ayurvedic and herbal products with a contribution of about Rs. 1200 crores of overthe-counter products. Currently Covid-19 pandemic has opened door to explore more in the ayurvedic treasures. This would help in enabling rapid access of these herbal drugs into developed country markets as well as in Indian market [16].

There are major challenges in tapping the substantial potential for utilizing medicinal, aromatic and natural dyes plants (MADPs) nationally in India, as well as in export markets. At the forefront of these problems is ensuring consistent and acceptable quality which always suffers against making money out of it. As this tradition has now moved to industries which was earlier a part of a local community's culture and health practices, quality is not manageable and has suffered a

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*Herbal Drugs Forensic*

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98253*

treating one or the other disease [16].

**4. Constraints to the development of trade**

final packaging and trade of the herbal product.

and no exploitation of biodiversity occurs.

July 2004.

lot. In case of medicinal plants, quality means the correct identity of the medicinal herb, purity of the composition and safety and efficacy of the final drug. However,

• Firstly, unlike allopathic drugs that are composed of a single or a fixed number of chemical compounds that are easy to be standardized, plants have a diverse range of phytoconstituents contributing to their bioactivity and it is very difficult to isolate, purify and standardize that bioactive compound.

• Secondly, bioactivity is not constant but varies according to time (day, season,

• Thirdly, there are also differences in the bioactivity exists depending on the

There are many more factors that contribute to the varied behavior of plant based drugs besides the ones stated above. Phytoconstituents that are responsible for the specific medicinal properties of a plant are not present in uniform quality or quantity under different edaphic (soil) conditions. The medicinal and toxic property of a plant may also vary according to the kind of processing through which it had undergone. Traditional, ancient systems of medicine used to take care of all these parameters and thus it had specific recommendations and procedures as to how a plant should be collected and processed in order to get its optimum efficacy. Currently, there are modern analytical techniques like chromatography, spectroscopy and bioassay methods that can be used to determine the chemical profile of the selected medicinal plants and can compare their bioactivity and efficacy in

Note: Information in the above paragraph has been taken from the country studies prepared for the Workshop on Medicinal Plants held in Bangalore, India, 22–26

While developing countries like India has huge potential in the marketing and trade of herbal drugs owing to their ancient knowledge and experience with the Ayurveda but they face a number of challenges and limitations that need to be addressed to meet the growing demands in the developed country markets [16].

a.**Quality assurance:** the herbal drugs need to be consistent in quality and should be free from contaminants. Unwanted ingredients like dirt, soil particles, plant parts, or any other chemical adulterant need to be addressed before

b.**Consistent volume:** the herbal drugs that are high in demand must be available in consistent volume so that there should be no pressure on natural resources

c.**Strict regulatory laws:** to regulate the collection, processing, storage, manufacturing and trade in herbal products, there should be strict norms laid by the

d.**Pre- and post-harvesting practises:** the herbal plants that are harvested for the use in different products need to be monitored and their pre- and

concerned authority at local, national and international level.

quality standardization of MADPs suffers a lot of challenges as:

constellar position) and to region (arid, marshy).

way a plant has been collected, processed and stored [16].

**Figure 1.** *Industrial uses of medicinal plants. Source: De Silva [17].*

lot. In case of medicinal plants, quality means the correct identity of the medicinal herb, purity of the composition and safety and efficacy of the final drug. However, quality standardization of MADPs suffers a lot of challenges as:


There are many more factors that contribute to the varied behavior of plant based drugs besides the ones stated above. Phytoconstituents that are responsible for the specific medicinal properties of a plant are not present in uniform quality or quantity under different edaphic (soil) conditions. The medicinal and toxic property of a plant may also vary according to the kind of processing through which it had undergone. Traditional, ancient systems of medicine used to take care of all these parameters and thus it had specific recommendations and procedures as to how a plant should be collected and processed in order to get its optimum efficacy.

Currently, there are modern analytical techniques like chromatography, spectroscopy and bioassay methods that can be used to determine the chemical profile of the selected medicinal plants and can compare their bioactivity and efficacy in treating one or the other disease [16].

Note: Information in the above paragraph has been taken from the country studies prepared for the Workshop on Medicinal Plants held in Bangalore, India, 22–26 July 2004.
