Int. J. Med. Arom. Plants, ISSN 2249 – 4340 RESEARCH ARTICLE Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 245-252, December 2011 *Corresponding author: (E-mail) prakashphondani@gmail.com http://www.openaccessscience.com ©2011 Open Access Science Research Publisher ijmap@openaccessscience.com Promotion of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Cultivation for Improv- ing Livelihood Security: A Case Study from West Himalaya, India P.C. PHONDANI 1* , Vikram S. NEGI 1 , I.D. BHATT 1 , R.K. MAIKHURI 2 , B.P. KOTHYARI 1 1 G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Kosi-Katarmal, Almora-263 643, Uttarak- hand, India 2 G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Garhwal Unit, Srinagar - 246 174, Utta- rakhand, India Article History: Received 14 th September 2011, Revised 29 th November 2011, Accepted 30 th November 2011. Abstract: Conservation of medicinal plants is receiving increased attention all across the globe keeping in view the re- surgence of interest in herbal medicines. Especially in the entire Himalayan region, rural and traditional societies are us- ing medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) for health care and economic benefit. Keeping this in view, five potentially medicinal and aromatic herbs viz. Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), Satawar (Asparagus racemosus), Ban-tulsi (Oci- mum basilicum), Tagar (Valeriana jatamansi) and Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) were selected for cultivation at farmer’s field of selected village clusters i.e. Dharaunj, Mudiyani and Gumod through participatory action research ap- proaches. As a result, a total of 120 farmers initiated cultivation of selected MAP species in 14 hectare land. Towards, capacity building of the farmers, a series of meeting among farmers and the trader’s and other stakeholders were co n- ducted. Simultaneously, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was facilitated between traders and farmers. These efforts provided opportunities to the farmers to develop skill, knowledge and self-confidence for cultivation of MAPs. This will help in fulfilling the raw material demands of pharmaceutical industries and enhance the livelihood security of the local farmers. The present study is an attempt to analyze yield and cost-benefit of selected MAPs adopted by farmers in the Champawat district of Uttarakhand state in India. Keywords: Conservation; cost benefit analysis; livelihood; medicinal plants; value chain; yields. Introduction Medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) are known to ensure the healthcare needs of and en- hance livelihoods of millions of rural people, however, 70-80% of the market demand is met from wild (Prasad and Bhattacharya 2003). This has severely affected the availability of MAPs in their natural habitat and likely to be vanished in coming years, if not managed to sa- feguard their regeneration (Maikhuri et al. 1998). In this context, cultivation and domesti- cation of wild MAPs plants is often suggested as a way to meet the growing market demand and also to create a balance between the use and conservation of MAPs (Maikhuri et al. 2003; Muhammad et al. 2006). The first initiative to cultivate medicinal plants as an income- generating activity took place in India during the Second World War when an acute scarcity of drugs led to the cultivation of a good number of species (Chopra et al. 1958). Since then vari- ous government and non-government organiza- tions initiated medicinal plants cultivation in different parts of the world. In India, MAPs are selected as a notable livelihood-focused venture along with traditional farming system, which can provide farmers a regular income (Uniyal et al. 2000; Negi et al. 2010). In North-western Himalaya cultivation of MAPs become livelih- ood security option for rural inhabitants. Uttarakhand is bestowed with varied vegeta- tion types ranging from tropical deciduous to alpine pastures. It has been estimated that over 350 species of plants are vulnerable and threat- ened in the state, of which 161 species belongs to rare and threatened categories (Phondani 2010). The state is considered rich source of important medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs); however, various factors such as habi- tat destruction, over exploitation, illegal exploi-