Darjeeling Himalayas and Sikkim being situated in one of the bio-diversity hot spots of the world are virtual gold mines of medicinal plants. Of the 1500 odd medicinal plants known in the country, this region alone is represented by more than 500 species of relatively well-known medicinal plants. This figure would go up if other lesser-known plants were included in the list. However, this vast economic resource of the country has largely gone unnoticed and uncared for.

In the villages high up in the mountains, the farmers face quite a lot of problems from wild animals like wild boar and bear who come and eat away the crops like potato, maize, cabbage and squash.

Secondly, the fragile ecosystem of the Himalayan region with unstable nature of the soil makes it prone to landslides if disturbed too much for cultivation. Medicinal plant cultivation has minimum disturbance to the soil strata thereby minimizing the chances of landslides.

There is a lot of barren grasslands below the snowline at the higher reaches of the Himalayas which has so far remained unutilized. We are making use of such lands for cultivation of high value medicinal plants like chirata, Picrorhiza kurroa, Orchis latofolia among others. These plants are indigenous, wild and less susceptible to diseases and attack by pests. Hence, the cost of maintaining these plants is also negligible which suits the farmers very well.

Though there are other farm-based alternatives like floriculture and horticulture available to the farmers, the benefits of these have however remained confined to the relatively affluent farmers. Moreover, marketing is a major problem as there is lack of flower auction centers, cold storage units, air-conditioned transportation facilities available in the region. In addition, the high value hybrid varieties of planting material needs to be imported from abroad to have a competitive edge in the market place. All these factors become a constraint for the small farmers who are then not able to take advantage of the opportunity.

Hence, Organo is trying to encourage the cultivation of medicinal plants in the Himalayan region of Darjeeling and Sikkim. Besides higher economic returns, the cultivation of medicinal plants will help to maintain the ecological condition of the region. This practice would replenish the already dwindling stock of wild plants and help in the conservation of species. As medicinal plants have the advantage of being non-edible, the problem of wild animals is also taken care of.