Role of Medicinal Plants in the Rural Development Programs of India

India is clearly known to be the richest source of medicinal plants. One of the estimates indicates that the Andhra Pradesh State in India alone is a habitat for more than 1000 varieties of plants that are used in ayurvedic, unani, sydhi, homeopathic, J.J. Dechane, or tribal medicine. In a “Weekend Warrior Survey” of rural areas, near Visakhapatnam alone yielded 50 different medicinal plant varieties. When traditional allopathic treatments fail to cure an ailment, western trained MD’s turn to alternative medicines. Nowadays, more and more doctors are turning towards plant derived products to treat their patients. Clearly the demand for plant derived products has increased all over the world. The demand will continue to grow through the year 2020 according to reliable surveys. This means that scientists, doctors and pharmaceutical companies wil