Medicinal herbs farming on rise

By Our Correspondent

Manthali, March 13: Medicinal herbs in Ramechhap district are increasingly finding place in local and international markets. This mountainous district has on offer varieties of herbs found in abundant quantity, most of them used for curing diseases.

Important herbs which are found in the district are :Lothsalla, Chirainto, Paanchole, Sugandhbaal, Manjiro, Argalo and Dhupi etc.

Nepalese industries like Dabur Nepal Limited have been collecting these herbs found in the high altitude forests.

Local farmers, who have recently realised the commercial values of these herbs mainly found in forests, have started their farming.

The collectors of these herbs are required to pay revenue in terms of the quantity, according to the District Forest Office, Ramechhap.

During the last fiscal year, about 750,000 Rupees were collected as revenue from collection of medicinal herbs. Around 550,000 alone were received from the leaves of Lothsalla which were collected by Dabur Nepal Limited.

Similarly, revenue of about 114,000 Rupees from Chirainto, 18,000 from Sugandhwaal, 10,650 from Urgalee were collected.

There is, however, controlled collection of these herbs so that these natural resources are not threatened and wiped out, according to the District Forest Office. The authority has banned collection of endangered rare herbs like Paancholle and Jatamasi.

The topography in district like this is ideal setting for the farming of herbs than other agricultural crops. Moreover, these medicinal plants have promising market — both locally and internationally.

Several industries in the district and outside it have been using the herbs as raw materials for their production. If the utilisation of herbs gets widely popular, the country will have to less depend on the import of allopathic medicines from other countries, experts say.

Given the potentiality of the benefits from herbs, if local farmers are encouraged in farming the medicinal plants, their living standard would certainly be enhanced, they say.

Hamal accuses CIAA of being 'prejudiced'

Kathmandu, Mar. 13 (RSS):  Outgoing Minister of State for Forest and Soil Conservation Surendra Hamal has said that a conspiracy was hatched against him and attempts made at character assassination against him.

Seeking time during the meeting of the House of Representatives today, Hamal said that allegations levelled against him that there were irregularities in the transfer of employees were totally false, adding that even the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority was prejudiced against him.

Hamal said that he tendered his resignation to extend cooperation to the Prime Minister in implementing the proposal of party president Girija Prasad Koirala to reduce the size of the cabinet by 10 per cent.

Treatment of ambush victim demanded

Kathmandu, Mar. 13 (RSS): Bir Bahadur Singh of the CPN-UML, at the outset of the National Assembly meeting today, said that the government should pay attention to providing medical treatment to Bhagavagti Gautam of Shobha VDC in Rukum district who sustained injuries in an electric ambush laid down by the army.

Ram Chandra Bhattarai of the same party sought the immediate release of Gopal Budhathoki, who has been under arrest for quite a long time.

MP Mohan Raj Chapagai lamented that the Dumkibas-Trivenigham road was not constructed for a long time and said that steps should be taken to develop Trivenighat on the lines of Devhat in Tanahu district.

He also sought information from the Defence Minister on the death of activists of his own party and of innocent labourers and demanded two telephones for the district.

Upper House approves proposal

Kathmandu, Mar. 13 (RSS): The meeting of the National Assembly today approved the proposal presented along with a name list calling for sending the Kathmandu Valley Town Development Bill-2058 to special committee for clausewise discussions.

Minister Wagle had presented the proposal with the names of MPs Surendra Pandey, Dr. Ram Man Shrestha, Balaram Ghartimagar, Laxmi Das Manandhar, Radheshyam Adhikari, Shukra Raj Sanyok, Urba Dutta Panta, Jagannath Poudel and Dr. Rup Jyoti.

Then chairman Dr. Mohammad Mohsin designated Radheshyam Adhikari as the chairman of the committee.

Similarly, the meeting also approved the proposal presented by Minister of State for Land Reform and Management Ram Janam Chaudhari along with the name list calling for sending the Guthi (third amendment) Bill -2058 to special committee for clausewise discussion.

Minister of State Chaudhari had presented the names of MPs Mahesh Mani Acharya Dixit, Laxmi Das Manandhar, Dev Raj Ghimire, Tilak Prasad Neupane, Jagannath Poudel, Ganga Dutta Joshi, Rabindra Lal Shrestha, Chanda Shaha and Ashok Koirala for the clauseswise discussion.

Then, chairman Dr. Mohammad Mohsin nominated Devraj Ghimire as the chairman of the committee.

The next meeting of the National Assembly will be held at 2:00 pm on March 15.