MEDICINAL AROMATIC PLANTS A CHALLENGE FOR THE FUTURE

MEDICINAL & AROMATIC PLANTS: A CHALLENGE FOR THE FUTURE IN AGRICULTURE Prof. Roberto DELLA LOGGIA Preside Facoltà Farmacia Università degli Studi di trieste Trieste, 2 / 4 / 2011

Agriculture for the Youth’s Future Medicinal & Aromatic Plants: a Challenge for the Future in Agriculture Roberto Della Loggia Faculty of Pharmacy Trieste, Italy

Medicinal & Aromatic Plants in the Word Medicinal & Aromatic Plants (MAPs) are an important part of the international trading Global herbal market is around $ 70. 5 billion with an average annual growth of 10 -12% p. a. • • • European Union Rest of Europe Asia 19% North America Others 7% 45% $ 32. 0 billion 4% $ 2. 8 billion $ 12. 2 billion 10% $ 7. 8 billion $ 4. 6 billion (Handa, 2011) The World Bank estimated global trade in MAPs and products at US$ 5 trillion by 2050 AD. Consequently, MAPs are seen as an interesting possibility for the agriculture in developing countries (and not only)

Medicinal & Aromatic Plants production However, in many cases the hopes are disappointed. Fields are implanted with medicinal plants, a product is obtained and the harvest is good … but the commercial value of the obtained crop is too low. Actually, in order to be profit-bearing the production of MAPs requires some specialization, different form that necessary for food crops.

Medicinal & Aromatic Plants production In food production, the main problem is the produced amount. The medicinal properties of the plants are due to fine chemicals they contain: the active principles The concentration of active principles may show high variability and the agricultural practices may strongly influence the final content. The value of Medicinal plants is related to the presence of fine chemicals they contain

MAPs production: the questions The first step: what plant to cultivate? A correct choice requires a market survey to answer the questions: • Are there a demand on the market for this plant? it is useless to produce something if nobody is interested in! • Which is the market price of this plant? • Am I able to produce it at convenient costs? it is useless to produce at higher prices: nobody will buy! • Am I able to produce it with the required quality?

MAPs production: the quality problem To fit with the quality requirement of the international MAPs market many parameters have to be considered: • active principles concentration • microbial contamination • pesticide levels • aflatoxins contamination • and many others

MAPs production: not only raw drugs The market price of semiprocessed products is much more interesting than that of the starting material. Essential oils and extracts has an important added value with respect to the starting crude drug. Coupling this kind of manufacturing with the crop production can be of high economical interest

MAPs: a challenge for young people However, all these things require a new generation of farmers with good professional education and training, higher than that of the conventional farmer Therefore, the cultivation of MAPs represents an important opportunity for young people that is willing to learn and to produce with modern methods. Good luck with medicinal & aromatic plants