Shimla, June 20: The Himachal Pradesh government has chalked out an ambitious programme to grow herbs and medicinal plants on barren land to increase the green cover of the state, official sources said today.
HP being a home of herbs, would encourage the people to grow medicinal plants on barren land which required less water, an official spokesman said.
The state has 7.23 per cent of the country’s bio-diversity, which if harnessed scientifically would generate additional income for farmers, the spokesman said.
The state government has already constituted a separate Herbal Medicine Plant board to carry forward “mission herbiculture” where 67 medicinal plants varieties had been identified for commercial cultivation, he said.
The mission envisaged joint campaign by Forest, Horticulture and Ayurveda departments to encourage the farmers to grow herbs on their lands, he added.
–Agencies