4860 Good Agricultural Practices: A Prequisite Approach for Enhancing the Quality of Indian Herbal Medicines Preet Amol Singh and Ashish Baldi* Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences & Technology, Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Technical University, India Received: June 13, 2018; Published: June 20, 2018 *Corresponding author: Ashish Baldi, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences & Technology, Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Technical University, Bathinda-151001, India, Tel: ; Email: DOI: 10.26717/BJSTR.2018.05.001268 Ashish Baldi. Biomed J Sci & Tech Res Cite this article: Preet A S, Ashish B. Good Agricultural Practices: A Prequisite Approach for Enhancing the Quality of Indian Herbal Medicines. Biomed J Sci&Tech Res 5(5)- 2018. BJSTR.MS.ID.001268. DOI: 10.26717/ BJSTR.2018.05.001268. Mini Review Open Access ISSN: 2574-1241 Introduction Global and national markets for medicinal plants are growing at a reckless pace and are earning significant profits. India has proved itself of being the epicenter of the trading of botanicals [1]. According to the reports of National Plants Medicinal Board (NMPB) India, India has 1,95,000 domestic herbal industries, 1,34,500 export value ( dry Weight in MT), 1,67,500 MT (on dry weight basis) rural household demand, 14910 wastage, making 5,11,910 (Dry wt. in MT) a total annual demand of herbal raw drugs for the year 2014- 15. The trade value of herbal raw drugs, estimated to be consumed in the country during the year 2014-15, works out to around US$ 1 bn [2,3]. In the trade of spices alone, India has emerged as a leading country globally. The report of Spice Board of India concludes that exports of Indian spices have continued to show a remarkable rise in value. During the financial year 2016-17, a total of of 9,47,790 tonnes of spices and spice products valued (US$ 2633.30 Million) have been exported from India [3]. As per WHO reports, (65-80%) of the world’s population seek plants or plant-derived natural products for various diseases [4-6]. Over the last decade there has been a revival of herbal drug industry due to irrational use of the chemical drugs, lack of modern curative therapies for treatment of chronic diseases. Historical, religious beliefs and easy availability and affordability are also some of the additional factors supporting promotion of herbal drugs. Many consumers have also turned to herbalism assuming that ‘natural means safe’ which is true to on basis that herbal medicines can be used up to large extent as compared to purified allopathic medicines but a longer use may cause side effects [7]. From the above data, it can be concluded that most of the population around the world directly or indirectly depends upon the natural resources. Therefore, it is essential to implement GAP & GACP guidelines to assure the quality of herbal medicines or nutraceuticals. Many countries like European Union, Japan, China, and India have developed their own national guidelines related to good agricultural and collection practices for medicinal plants but there are many factors leading to their poor implementation [8]. GAP and WHO: WHO has a commitment to achieve better health for everyone, everywhere. By the resolution WHA56.31, member states requested the WHO to provide technical support for drafting the guidelines to assure the quality and efficacy of the herbal medicine. WHO developed number of technical guidelines in return to ensure the quality of the herbal medicine out of which GAP and GACP on medicinal plants are the latest [6,8,9]. Factors affecting the quality of raw herbal material: There are many factors like genetics, environmental, collection procedures etc. mentioned Abstract India is a land where huge population depends upon its ancient system of medicines involving herbs and spices for the treatment of ailments; it is a home for very old system of medicines which continue to be the mainstay of healthcare delivery to a vast segment of society even today. Growth of herbal based healthcare sector in India is putting high demand on both wild collected and cultivated medicinal plants. Unfortunately, because of the poor quality of some herbal medicines, there are number of reports of patients complaining negative consequences caused by the herbal medicines in India. The quality of the herbal medicine is somehow directly related to the quality of raw medicinal plant materials. Therefore, it is prerequisite to follow Good Agricultural and Collection Practices (GACP) for medicinal plants as it is the first step in quality assurance, on which safety and efficacy of herbal medicines directly depends. But despite of such WHO (GACP) guidelines, there is still lack of implementation and documentation of GAP of Indian medicinal plants. In this article, various factors concerning quality of the raw medicinal plant material and the role of GAP & GACP in achieving high quality herbal medicines will be covered. Keywords: WHO; Good Agricultural Practices; Good Agricultural &Collection Practices; Medicinal Plants, Standardization