The plant kingdom of northeast India includes a high number of species, producing a diversity of bioactive molecules with different chemical scaffolds. The northeastern Himalayan region including Manipur happens to be one of the two-mega biodiversity ‘hotspots’ in India. Plants are known since antiquity in the region to provide therapeutically useful products for treating diseases of human beings and animals and fragrances that were used in rituals, festivals and as beauty aids. Among 94,22,000 species of plants occurring in the world, approximately 35,000-70,000 species were used at one time or the other in the long human history for medicinal purpose. Over the centuries, the use of medicinal and aromatic plants has become an important part of daily life despite the progress in modern medical and pharmaceutical industry. They are now being progressively used in cosmetics, foods and teas, as well as alternative medicines. The growing interest in herbs and their ability to offer economical uses is a part of the movement towards greener economics and life styles. This movement is based on the belief that the plants have a vast potential for their use as a curative medicine. Medicinal and aromatic plants will also maintain their importance in the search for new, valuable sources of drugs and lead compounds. In view of the steadily rising demands on these important natural resources, attention should be paid to the sustainable forms of production and utilization.
As per the estimates of the WHO, nearly 80% of the world’s population depends on herbal medicine for their primary health care requirements. Global trade in medicinal plants is over USD 60bn in 2004 with an annual growth rate of 15%. India is rapidly emerging as a key player for supplying medicinal plants to the world. America, Arabia, China (Traditional Chinese Medicine), Egypt, Europe, Greece, India, Mexico, Rome etc. recorded the use of plants for medicinal use. Japan, Korea (Kampo system), Indonesia (]amu system), South Africa (julu system), Bhutan (gso-ba-rig-pa), Sri Lanka (DeshiyaChikitsa), Malaysia (Matay herbal medicine) etc. have traditional medicinal systems akin to Indian Ayurvedic system. Sustainable and eco-friendly technologies were developed for preparing products of commerce from plants by civilizations that existed for centuries in different countries around the globe.
In recent years, industrial and technological revolutions brought with them tools of technology to unravel the mysteries of plants and place on the platter of global customer plant derived products of immense commercial value. Modern technology placed medicinal and aromatic plants in frontier areas of research in plant sciences. Bio prospecting for pharmacologically active biomolecules or flavour / fragrance, natural chemicals from medicinal and aromatic plants has become a multi-billion dollar R&D cum commercial global enterprise for which a war-like competitive atmosphere exists. Both developing and developed countries are racing against time to gain superiority over others in this field. The global market for plant-based drugs is estimated to reach US $ 5 trillion by 2050 (25% of prescription drugs in USA, 28.7% in OECD countries, 5-20% in Japan, 35-40% in Germany are reportedly plant based). The international cosmetics market is worth US $ 150 billion annually. In addition, market for herbal teas, nutraceuticals, functional foods; cosmaceuticals made from medicinal and aromatic plants is growing by leaps and bounds.
At the same time GATT agreement, globalization has brought with it tremendous challenges and opportunities. The northeastern region of India need to inventorize, conserve, cultivate, patent and utilize this resource expeditiously in addition to scientifically validating traditional claims through reverse pharmacology to become a global market player. The time is ripe for moving from farming to pharming and engineer medicinal plants using biotechnological tools to design affordable plant-based drugs for major diseases and use perfume and flavor-blends with more natural chemicals from aromatic plants. These green technologies will not only be environment-friendly but also will be society-friendly and will bring livelihood opportunities to the poorer sections of the society, besides addressing their health care needs in the absence of State funded modern health facilities.