Medicinal Plants Project Launched in 16 Tribal Hotspots

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs, working with the CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute of Lucknow, has launched a national project on medicinal plants at the Central University of Odisha in Koraput. The three-year initiative is formally titled Integrated Conservation, Agro-Technology and Bioresource Enterprise Development for Sustainable Tribal Livelihoods in Tribal Hotspots of India, and its twin aims are to protect the medicinal plant wealth of tribal regions and to turn traditional knowledge of those plants into steady earnings for tribal families.

Where the project will run

Sixteen tribal hotspots have been chosen across 13 States and Union Territories. They include Alluri Seetharama Raju in Andhra Pradesh, Kokrajhar in Assam, Narayanpur in Chhattisgarh, Navsari in Gujarat, East Singhbhum in Jharkhand, Kodagu in Karnataka, Wayanad in Kerala, Kargil in Ladakh, Anuppur in Madhya Pradesh, Gadchiroli and Nashik in Maharashtra, Kandhamal, Balangir and Koraput in Odisha, Sonbhadra in Uttar Pradesh and Dharchula in Uttarakhand.

What the project will do

• Document roughly 200 to 300 species of medicinal plants found in these areas.
• Scientifically propagate 30 to 40 rare, endangered and threatened species.
• Set up 16 community nurseries and 16 seed banks, one for each hotspot.
• Distribute between 40,000 and 50,000 quality planting materials for cultivation.

Fieldwork already done

The institute began in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh during October 2026. Its team met 146 tribal knowledge holders in 12 villages, recorded their healing practices, and gathered 97 field numbers that stand for about 200 medicinal and economically useful plant samples. Twenty-five live orchid samples were also taken for conservation and multiplication at the institute’s botanical garden.

How it will be delivered

The project will work through Krishi Vigyan Kendras, Van Dhan Vikas Kendras, State tribal welfare and forest departments and local communities, with tribal farmers, traditional healers, women and rural youth placed at the centre of training and enterprise building. A technical session called From Tribal Knowledge to Enterprise was held at the launch, and a field visit to the Koraput hotspot follows on 13 November 2026.