Medicinal plant belt to come up on banks of Ganga in UP

LUCKNOW: Scientists of the Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP), Lucknow, will train farmers and forest officials of the 27 UP districts, through which river Ganga flows, methods of cultivating medicinal plants on the river bank.

“The plan is to promote farming of medicinal herbs on the banks of Ganga to reduce pollution and improve farmers’ earnings,” said Renuka Kumar, principal secretary, forest and environment.

The initiative is a part of the ‘Namami Gange’ project that aims at reducing pollution in river Ganga.

Director CIMAP AK Tripathi said that aromatic and medicinal plants have cleaning properties that would help in reducing river pollution.

He also said that the cultivation techniques would require minimal amounts of fertilisers.

Speaking of the training programme he said, “The training is designed to impart basic knowledge about cultivation and scope of medicinal plants. But this is only a part of the exercise. Our experts will remain in touch with forest officials to facilitate cropping, harvesting and marketing of the end product.”

The programme began in CIMAP on Friday with training being imparted to 40 farmers and forest officials of Ballia district. Situated in the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh, Ballia is known for high levels of pollution in Ganga.

“The river flows for 78 kilometres in Ballia, where we aim to improve its water quality,” said NK Singh, divisional forest officer of Ballia, who participated in the training programme.

Participants were informed about farming techniques to grow aromatic crops on the sandy river banks and earn profits.

The training programme will continue till late monsoon, after which the water in Ganga begins to recede. “We are planning to begin the first phase of cultivation once the monsoon is over,” said the DFO of Ballia.

THE PROGRAMME BEGAN IN CIMAP ON FRIDAY WITH TRAINING BEING IMPARTED TO 40 FARMERS AND FOREST OFFICIALS OF BALLIA DISTRICT.