Uttar Pradesh State PCS

• 14 Jul 2022

Anti-Malarial Plant Cultivation

Why in News?

• On July 13, 2022 Prabodh Kumar Trivedi, director of the Lucknow-based Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CMAP), informed that recently the Uttar Pradesh government has drafted a new policy for contract farming of CIM-Sanjeevani, a new species of anti-malarial plant Artemisia, and sent it to the Central Government.

Key Points

• CMAP has tied up with Chennai-based company Sattav Vaid Natures Global Pvt. Ltd. for contract farming of CIM-Sanjeevani, a new species of anti-malarial plant Artemisia across the country, including Uttar Pradesh.
• The company will do the contract farming of Artemisia. At the same time it will contribute to the development of technology related to processing. The company will deliver the finished plants from the farmer to the pharmaceutical companies. This will give the farmers the price of their produce in the field itself.
• On the one hand, raw materials will not have to be ordered from abroad to make malaria medicine, on the other hand, the farmers will also get the benefit.
• Director Prabodh Kumar Trivedi said that the new species has been developed after many years of research. This already running variety is developed from the poly cross between survival and CIM Arogya. The Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI) has also considered this plant to be suitable for anti-malarial medicine in its research.
• The target is to eliminate Malaria in the state by 2027. For this, the Health Department is continuously campaigning. In many districts, the rate of API (Annual Parasite Incidence) has been found to be below one since last year. Till June 2022, more than 26 lac 77 thousand samples have been tested, out of which 1077 have tested positive.
• It is noteworthy that an element called Artemisinin is found in the Artemisia plant, from which Malaria medicine is prepared. Artemisinin kills the Malarial Pathogen Plasmodium Falciparum. This plant is commonly found in China. From there, new species are being prepared by bringing it to India. Experiments have been carried out on this by several institutions including the Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP) of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Banaras Hindu University.
• CIMAP scientists found artemisinin content 1.2% higher in CIM-Sanjeevani, a new species of Artemisia. In this species, along with meningitis, there are also more elements used in making medicines used in other diseases including cancer. Food pills and injections are prepared from it.
• The report, published in the Journal of Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Sciences, states that CIM-Sanjeevani is also beneficial for farmers and the farming industry. The report said that the company that manufactures the drug from this plant can reduce the cost by about 20 percent.
• The report also said that the cultivation of Artemisia can benefit farmers by about 65 thousand rupees per hectare in a period of about four months. This is the reason why Indian companies are coming forward to get contract farming done with this plant.