The National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) was set-up in November 2000 by the Government of India with the primary mandate of coordinating all matters relating to medicinal plants, support policies and programmes for growth of trade, export, conservation and cultivation. The Board is located in the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha & Homeopathy (AYUSH) of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
Standard development activity:
NMBP has developed the following two India specific guidelines voluntary standards on the pattern of Good Agriculture and Field Collection Practices (GACPs) developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) for medicinal plants:
- NMPB-GAPMP-01(FD) Standard for Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) - This standard covers good agricultural practices for cultivated medicinal plants in sustainable manner and maintaining quality of produce used by all stakeholders.
- NMPB-GFCP-01(FD) - Standard for Good Field Collection Practices (GFCP) - The standard provides requirements for Good Field Collection Practices on different aspects for harvesting and post harvest management of medicinal plants.
Certification activity:
In order to encourage good agricultural and field collection practices in medicinal plants and also to enhance quality and safety of these plants, NMPB in collaboration with the Quality Council of India (QCI), has launched a Voluntary Certification Scheme for Medicinal Plant Produce (VCSMPP) against the above mentioned two standards.
This scheme provides two options:
- Individual producer/collector applies for certification and gets certification for his/her produce.
- A producer/collector group applies for group certification and the producer group, as a legal entity, gets certification.
The Scheme is open to all organizations engaged in GAP and GFCP of medicinal plant produce and are legal entities in India. Click here to get all the necessary information on how to obtain certification for medicinal plant produce.
Key contact person: Click to see the details of the contact persons
Website: www.nmpb.nic.in