The present
situation of rapidly growing population in the country is leading to over
exploitation of natural resources causing irreparable loss of medicinal herb
species. In Bangladesh
there are about more than 500 Ayurbedic, Unani and Homeopathy pharmaceutical
laboratories. They mostly depend on herbal medicine. Day by day medicinal
plants have drastically eroded in recent years because of many reasons.
Research on herbal medicinal plants and associate issues are very limited in Bangladesh. A survey in the rural areas to identify the
availability of herbaceous medicinal plants in Northwest Bangladesh, to
establish herbarium with endangered and rare medicinal herbs species, to find
out use and application and the compatibility of herbaceous medicinal plants in
the existing agroforestry system was undertaken.
The study
area was carried out in two selected upazilas of Lalmonirhat district –Sadar
and Aditmari. The sample respondents for the study consisted of 100 households,
50 from each location. Only Small (1.50-2.49 ac) and Marginal (0.50-1.49 ac)
categories of farmers were selected.
In order to
collect the relevant information from the respondents an interview schedule was
carefully designed. Direct and open form question and different scales were
used to obtain information. The researcher collected data through personal
interview during 6 December
2003 to 6 March
2004.
Most of the respondents were male (96%), married
(86%), and had informal education (28%) and primary education (16%).
In the case of farm
category, small farmers were observed to be maximum (51%) and the rest was
marginal (49%).
The average size of the homestead was 0.334 ac ranged from 0.02 ac to 2.16 ac. Among all utilization patterns, cultivated land occupied almost around 71% of the total land. Among the homestead utilization pattern, vegetable area was the highest with small farm category (0.15 ac) and home yard area (0.07 ac) was the highest with marginal category.
Cereals in
farmland were the highest with small
farm category (1.68 ac in small, 0.78 ac in marginal) and tree coverage
was the highest with marginal category (0.38 ac in marginal, 0.18 ac in small).
Small farm category earned high income (Tk. 67662/Yr/Family) and incurred
more expenses (Tk. 58594/Yr/Family) compared to marginal farm category (Tk.
46336 and Tk. 41183/Yr/Family respectively).
A total of 65 medicinal herb species was identified in the homestead and farmland of surveyed area of Lalmonirhat Sadar and Aditmari upazila. Among them some were climber, creeper, aquatic in nature and annual, biennial and perennial habitat. In the study area mostly used herb by the Kabiraj were Ada, Shetodrone, Durba, Amrul, Holud, Piaj, Rasun, Thankuni, Tulsi, Choi, Pudina, Punornova, Gandhavadali etc. Some experienced respondents opined that the herb species like Banada, Boch, Hatisur, Lajjabati, Shialkata, Ghritokumari etc. were rarely seen.Out of 65 herb species identified the luxuriant availability of herbs species were Shetodrone, Amrul, Durba, Holud, Morich, Pan, Ada, Matialu and Shialmutra.In the study area endangered herb species identified by the respondents were Talmakhna, Yusufgul, Kaowathukri, Ulatchandal, Dupurmoni, Mahabhringaraj etc.
In the
study area, most of the kabiraj used the above mention medicinal herb for the
treatment of Cold, Cough, Dysentery, Vomiting, Wounds, Pain, Bleeding,
Toothache, Earache, Blood pressure etc.
Mostly used herb Amrul, Shetodrone, Durba, Holud etc. is easily
available in the homestead.
Most of the respondents treated the livestock diseases by the herb that
were easily available in their homestead such as Ada, Holud, Rosun, Morich,
Kalokeshi, Shetodrone, Harjora etc. against Diarrhoea, Golafula, Flatulance,
Giddiness, Pain etc.
Bishkatali, Matmatia, Morich and Tamak (Tobacco) are commonly used
against Stem borer, Dung beetle, Aphids, White fly respectively.
The most common
systems was the Betel vines (Pan) as the climber on Nut (Supari) trees,
practiced by almost half of the respondents (46%), which gave a reasonable
income Tk. 2400/year from Betel vines
(400 kg) and Tk. 36,000 from Nut (600 kg) after 15 years. The highest
income was achieved from Choi (Tk. 60,000 from 1000 kg) in 3 years when
intercropped as climber on Nut trees (Tk. 36,000 after 15 years).
Another
agroforestry systems with Gulancha intercropped with Neem, as a climber seemed
promising because Gulancha provided a quick return Tk. 30,000 in 6 months in
addition to Tk. 10,500 from Neem after 30 years.
Betel vines
and Matialu have multivarious options to grow on a range of trees like Jackfruit (Kanthal), Mango (Am), Nut
and Neem.
Northwest
region of Bangladesh
is rich in natural resources including herbal medicinal plants. There is
abundance of some medicinal plants and some are less available. Commercial use
of medicinal herbs is growing faster, but the value is still small compared
with the global market. The economic potentials of this area can be increased
by promoting agroforestry systems and utilizing unused lands through awareness
raising, training and technology transfer to the farmers. The Government and
NGOs should come forward to make the farmers aware about the potential and the
value of growing medicinal herbs near homestead and farm land. There is another possibility of growing
herbaceous medicinal plants in 160 tea gardens of Bangladesh and earning 50 crores of
taka from herbal plants, so that country can reduce 80 per cent of its import
of herbal ingredients for its pharmaceutical industries.
Rural people should be
encouraged to use each and every corner of their land to promote the
cultivation of herb.People should be motivated not to destroy the places of growing herb for little
benefits.
Bangladesh Krishi Bank or other sectors should come forward to provide the
farmers with soft loan at a very low rate of interest.
The farmers should be trained on agroforestry methods to increase the
production of herb.Vigorous advertisement in radio's, TV's, papers and magazines could be of great
use to increase the benefits of herb. Media can play an important role to
enhance the production.Farmers should be motivated not to plant foreign tree species (Eucalyptus,
Akashmoni etc). The foreign tree species destroy the fertility of land and suck
the huge quantity of underground water from soil and disturbs the growth of
herb. It is one of the hindrances of
growing herb.The farmers should be trained when and how to collect fresh herb and keep the
herb unadulterated and germless or fungus free.The farmers should be encouraged to collect the germless, fungus free, unadulterated
& healthy fresh herb from the land.A full-fledged database system should be introduced where each and every
information will be available for the concerned authority.
Farmers should be aware of the values of their produced herbal commodities.Emphasis should be given for improving collection, cultivation and marketing
conditions and benefits for the whole family.The Kabiraj should be
motivated to come forward to make the people aware that the herb, which is
simply ignored, can cure a total ailment at a very low cost. Most of the people
don't believe the power of herb in curing diseases.Government and NGO's should initiate to develop gene bank for conservation of
vulnerable genetic resources.
Arrangement of training and communication should be made for the
farmers on identification of medicinal herbs, their uses and economic
importance.
Further follow-up research should be
undertaken to evaluate efficiency of agroforestry systems identified in this
study.