The livelihood activity.

 

■ Essential elements of the activity: 

Plants are natural resources from which medicinal products can be extracted, and are often freely available and accessible to those living in even the most marginal of conditions. They are therefore important in establishing or restoring and maintaining livelihoods. Medicinal plant activities are often combinable and compatible with other natural resource uses, including agriculture and forestry activities. Medicinal Aromatic Plants (MAPs) are diverse, and vary in terms of where they grow, their properties, and their use. Some species are found only in intact ecosystems, such as primary forest, and do not lend themselves to domestication. Establishing plant nurseries with locally collected germplasm and encouraging where possible cultivation and domestication of plants by smallscale farmers should be encouraged.  

Based on global figures, it is assumed that the number of MAP species currently in formal cultivation for commercial production, as opposed to those wild harvested, does not exceed a few hundred world-wide. Examples include poppy (Papaver sp), senna (Senna alexandrine), cinchona (Rubiaceae sp), belladonna (Solanaceae sp), chamomile (Matricaria, and Anthemis sp ) and damask rose (Rosa sp). Medicinal species are cultivated on a small-scale, either as home remedies or by herbalist or cultivation by local people can take place as enrichment planting (FAO, 2002). Many of these MAPs are grown in home gardens (see FAO Diversification booklet No.2 Livelihoods grow in gardens), cultivated as field crops, or in intercropping systems and rarely as plantation crops (FAO, 2002). 

Plants can be cultivated from wild harvested seedlings, collected seeds germinated in the homestead, and vegetative propagation, taking and putting on cuttings from live mature plants. Some general good practice procedures include: • Ensuring the material is correctly identified before starting; • Selecting good healthy plants to take cuttings and/or seeds from; • Only harvesting mature and viable seeds; • Record methods used, and mistakes made to help increase horticultural know how; • Usage of clean tools to minimise transferring infections - which may be caused by bacteria, viruses, and/or fungi – sterilising in one part domestic bleach to nine parts water; • Ensure continuity in plant care, observing sun exposure throughout the day; • Manage watering and avoid doing so in direct sunlight, and preferably early in the morning; • Weeding regularly, especially while plants are young to avoid competition for nutrients, and consider letting some smaller weeds grow to provide a green mulch for soil cover and improved water retention; • Seedling in a basic nursery – a protected area which is warm and moist to facilitate germination and prevent browsing by birds and animals;• Organic fertilizers, compost and mulches can be used to prepare a good fertile seedbed; application during the growing season can provide key nutrients for plant growth and result in improved yields. • To help manage pests and diseases, badly infected or contaminated plants should be removed, and preferably burnt to control parasitic or other infection. Manual disease control is a proven safe method which can be effective when offending plants are removed early and regularly, and in addition, growing multiple species can help prevent a heavy burden of pests and disease. There are various local plant based remedies for pest control. Diederichs (2006) lists many relevant for southern Africa, but also states that there are currently no herbicides registered for the control of weeds in MAP farms.

Depending on the species grown, cultivation and processing implements may include: • Containers for planting – may include buckets, troughs, tyres, large plastic bags. This can help to control weed problems, help identify species, and help find any species which die back at the end of the year. Black colours can increase the temperature of the soil and retain moisture, to help speed up germination; • It may be useful to place these containers in a nursery. Hip high wooden poles can be used to erect such an area for starting seedlings, and cultivating smaller plants and shrubs. This can be covered over with sacking, or thatch to protect from strong sunlight, heavy rain and browsers; • A spade and a fork for soil preparation when planting out in a seed bed to break up the soil to aid root penetration. Lines of string can be used to indicate where seeds have been planted and where mixed plots are sown or multiple species seedlings are managed, some plastic tags for identification can be used. Some pieces of wood or other similar structure are useful to demarcate and provide a boundary for the planted area; • Containers for collecting and carrying; • Various harvesting implements, including knives, axes, spades, etc; • A secure and clean area to store the products – fly free and dark and cool to help preserve the medicinal properties; • Dependent on the type of processing required, containers for drying, or boiling, or crushing, etc, and decanting medicinal tinctures, ointments, teas, etc., into appropriate storing, transporting and selling containers (clean plastic bags, bottles, etc.). Effective drying can make the difference between a good quality product with high quantities of medicinal properties, and therefore which is easily sold (see ‘processing and packaging’ in the section on Strategies for successful and sustainable marketing for more details). Finally, local activities can be more sustainable when they use locally available assets: maintaining equipment and tools locally can be more affordable while also contributing to other local livelihoods.

■ Medicinal Aromatic Plants: Varieties and their properties Plants with medicinal properties are distributed throughout the world across, among others, tropical, temperate, humid, dry, and alpine regions. Many plant species naturally occur across entire regions, whereas others may be endemic to smaller ecological niches. There exist MAP species of significant importance to cultures throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America. Below are just a few examples of these: • the following plants are of importance throughout Asia: Alstonia scholaris, Aconitum heterophyllum, Aegle marmelos, Cinnamomum camphora, Aquilaria sp., Emblica officinalis, Panax sp. (ginseng), Rauwolfia serpentina and Tinospora crispa; • the following plants are of importance in some parts of Africa, Prunus africana, Curtisia pentata, Cryptocarya myrtifolia, Gnetum africanum and Catharanthus roseus; • the following MAP species are associated with Latin America: Pimentha spp., Tagetes glandulifera, Mauritia flexuosa, Pithecellobium avaremotemo, Chinchona sp., and Hyptis pectinata. Across different regions where the same species exist, variations may be seen in their uses and consequently in their management and harvesting practices, because of the influence of different cultural, technological and/or economic factors. Indeed many species have multiple uses. For example, African vine (Strophanthus hispidus) is both an arrow poison and a cardiotonic. Plant species with medicinal properties may not alone provide medicines, but in fact require traditional knowledge around their preparation, to unlock these properties (see Box 4). Rural communities, particularly, forest communities usually have experts who may or may not be willing to share their knowledge; their skills are often passed down orally from generation to generation, with people adopting and adapting new knowledge and techniques. Some local healers become famous over larger regions, and healing is often associated with religious and spiritual practices, such as divination and the appeasement of spirits. 

Health and wealth from Medicinal Aromatic Plants.

Many different kinds of wild plants - including epiphytes, herbs, lianas, and trees - and associated parts of these - including roots, leaves, bulbs, bark, and fruits and flowers - are used for traditional medicine. Such plants can provide a plethora of therapeutic properties including contraceptives; steroids; muscle relaxants for anaesthesia and surgery; digitalis derivatives for heart failure; antibacterial and anti-malarial compounds; immune strengthening properties such as echinacea, anti-cancer drugs including vinblastin, etoposide and taxol, and many more . 

 

There are many descriptions of MAPs, their uses, and their management. Diederichs (2006) prepared various fact sheets which can be used to grow MAP types commonly used in South Africa. 

Table 1 illustrates the range of medical ailments which Nepali healers can treat, using a variety of locally available MAPs.