Pandemic leaves growers of herbal, medicinal crops sick with losses

HYDERABAD: When the isabgol (psyllium seed) crop was harvested in the February-March this year in parts of Kunri, Umarkot district, farmers could not sell their product timely, because of the instant imposition of lockdown aimed at checking the spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the country.

The reports gathered from the area show a large number of farmers either failed to sell their products on time or had to accept low rates because of the lockdown.

The farmers as usual expected to receive Rs10,000 per maund (40kg), but only a few were able to sell their products at less than Rs5,000 per maund.

Mashooq Bhanbhro, isabgol farmer from Daulatabad area near Khipro, Sanghar district, said they got a harvest of 10 maunds per acre and sold the product at Rs7,000 per maund at the local market. “We earned merely Rs70,000 per acre, amid expenses,” Bhanbhro said.

It was not only the isabgol crop, many producers of other traditional crops of the same season, like saunf (fennel seeds) and alsi (linseed), have also come under this kind of pressure and farmers failed to sell them at reasonable rates.However, the sudden move following global pandemic has further pushed traditional farmers to think twice before the cultivation of these crops next year.

The growers are aware that cultivating traditional crops is not a priority for them. They, being situated at tail end areas, cannot receive enough water to cultivate major crops like cotton, sugarcane, rice, and wheat. Thus, they do not have any option other than cultivating these crops to utilise their lands.

However, farmers do not receive any incentive from the government to continue it.

Anyway, the farmers grow these traditional crops, which have medicinal value in local and foreign markets. Kunri in Umerkot and parts of Mirpurkhas and Sanghar districts of Sindh province are considered as centres of producing these medicinal crops.

Altaf Mahesar of Basic Development Foundation (BDF), who is struggling to promote indigenous and traditional crops and leading a farmers’ network to adopt organic methods in agriculture, shared with The News a list of crops, which have either been wiped out completely or are rare in the environment and being cultivated at a small-level without the government’s support.

Mahesar said many farmers have continued cultivating valuable traditional crops in different parts of the province, but besides the government, traders also discourage them by offering low rates. Mahesar, who himself is homeopathy practitioner, said, “We have lost precious plant species due to deforestation, over-exploitation and overgrazing”. Conversion of natural habitats of wildlife species to agricultural fields had also resulted the scarcity of medicinal plants in the environment, which, otherwise, were collected by several community people to sell as a living through generations, he added.

Despite significant economic importance of these products in Sindh, its full potential has not been realised at the government level because of the lack of required technology and investment in these valuable herbal crops production, processing, and value-addition.

The farmers believe the Sindh provincial government always promotes other cash crops like sugarcane, cotton and food crops like paddy and wheat. They announce support prices for these major crops to benefit farmers. But there is no policy for these traditional crops, which have value in herbal and food markets. Despite facing challenges in local market farmers have continued to produce these crops.

According to farmers of traditional crops, the government never tried to intervene to put these medicinal crops on priority to promote them.

Fennel seed, isabgol, and alsi are rare crops, which need only two-three waters from sowing to harvesting. Only a few farmer families cultivate these crops to keep the tradition alive as there is no market mechanism and government support to promote this valuable winter cash crops.

Some alternative medicine practitioners in Sindh believe majority of traditional crops have medicinal value and have been being used through generations in rural areas. A large number of elderly women still wanted to keep these products at home for healing purposes, mainly curing children’s ailments.

For example, elderly village women still advise young mothers to give linseed to their babies at growth stages to improve their immune system.

It is learnt that the prices of herbal plants are very low in the areas where from they come to urban market. That is because the people in villages do not know about their value in the market to get reasonable prices.

The traders take the products at low rates and sell the same in the urban market at higher rates, earning double and triple, depriving the producers of their true share.

In the wake of pandemic outbreak, which has shaken the entire world nations, many experts suggest adopting alternative methods of treatment. For this, they suggest reintroduction of traditional crops and food products to get rid of newly emerging health challenges at local level.

Assessment reports about herbal plants show there are many wild plants that grow in different ecological zones of Sindh province, which the local communities still use to cure their family members, mainly children.

These herbal plants’ roots, flowers, stems, leaves, and barks are being used as remedies for different ailments. Some of the herbal plants are being traded in different drug markets and also used by alternative medicine practitioners, reports show.

The demand of alternative medicines and natural food products is increasing both in developed and developing countries. But there is a lack of policy mechanism to promote cultivation of these crops and plants and their sales and marketing.

Several families engaged in cultivating these traditional crops need to be transferred knowledge about marketing and preservation. Because, treatment through herbal items is considered low-cost for curing various common diseases, these medicinal plants can be an important source of livelihood for majority of the rural communities that have already been engaged in collecting and producing these items.

Obviously, isabgol, saunf, and alsi are cash crops, but are being neglected ruthlessly by the government institutions. Some academia members suggest the need for new research about the potential of crops productivity and challenges facing farmers.