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Food and medicines intertwined |
Food |
 Human beings have to depend on Nature for sustenance and survival. The traditional system of medicine in India dates back to the age of the Rigveda (2500 to 1600 B.C.). Ayurveda is the Indian indigenous system of medicine dating back to the Vedic period. The term Ayurveda means Science of Life (Ayur = life, veda = knowledge). The entire system of ancient Indian medicine is based on the relationship between man and nature. With the development of science, many new drugs of synthetic origin have come into existence and with the rapid growth of the pharmaceutical industry the value and use of the herbal medicines has come down in the recent past.
 In the colonial period, Ayurveda sunk in India to the status of the poor man's medicine. Though the knowledge survived, it had no prestige. Those who had money preferred western medicine and the immediate cure for isolated symptoms appealed to people. At the present moment Ayurveda is enjoying yet another revival, because of the side effects or long term health hazards of allopathic medicine.
In 1978, the World Health Organisation (WHO) drew up a list of 240 absolutely essential medications. All these medications can be obtained only from plants. Every year, nearly two hundred Indian medicinal plants are being tested in the research departments of several prestigious drug companies all over the world. Apart from practitioners of Ayurveda most women know the properties of certain plants which they come across in their daily life, until synthetic products took over and herbal medicine became old fashioned.
 Times have changed and we are back to the herbs and herbal products that our ancestors used. During the past, rainwater was used as a skin toner and honey as a moisturiser. Dead skin can be removed by using papaya and skin blemishes can be cleared using potatoes. Even beauty parlours are now advertising "looking good the natural way". Seeing the demand for herbal products, many organisations have developed and are marketing herbal products.
Because of the over-exploitation of several herbs, they have become endangered or threatened. In order to overcome this situation, these important herbs must be cultured either in the laboratory or outside in nurseries and gardens.
Conservation of medicinal plants:
 The propagation of plants has been a fundamental operation of mankind. When new kinds of plants have to be conserved or propagated, we need to develop knowledge and techniques to propagate them. An appropriate propagation technology can be selected for each kind of medicinal plant depending upon plant growth. Apart from propagating medicinal plants, villagers can be encouraged to set up kitchen gardens of medicinal plants for their domestic use as shown below:
Organic farming with medicinal plants as botanical pesticides can be encouraged as a practice to replace chemical pesticides among farmers. A gene pool of herbal and medicinal plants can be established. Conservation strategies based on present demands and immediate future needs to be prioritized. The conservation of medicinal plants does not end here. The community should also play a major role to conserve medicinal plants. People should be taught to identify the locally available species which are over-exploited and whose exploitation should be checked and regulated.
 A separate package for community development/conservation can also be taken up by setting up a small community garden by distributing 50 to 100 useful plants for a primary health centre which the local community could maintain. Seed banks and nurseries can also be developed by the community to generate income. Medicinal plant species can be planted under the wasteland development programme. If all this has to be done, an awareness programme should be conducted stressing the importance of medicinal herbs and their identification and utilisation for treating diseases in human beings and animals. The message of identification, utilisation and conservation of medicinal plants can be spread through local, traditional folk media, distribution of booklets and handouts.
Some
of the plants, with their usage:
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