Forest minister calls for utilising barren land for commercial plants cultivation

Kathmandu / Apr 12: Minister for Forest and Environment, Shakti Bahadur Basnet, has spoken of the need for expanding commercial farming of plants.

In his statement at a programme on the occasion of the 59th anniversary of Central Department of Botany and 20th National Botanical Day, the minister was of the view of utilizing barren fertile land for commercial farming of herbs and other valuable plants. As he said, this would not be possible only through sole efforts of the state, but combined efforts are required.

He called on employees concerned to work with the sense of more responsibility in the days to come and contribute to the conservation of plants and related research works. Secretary at the Ministry, Dr Bishwanath Oli said Nepal had lately made great strides in the identification and conservation of sources of plants through research works. He was also of the opinion that people should be encouraged for herbs cultivation.

Department’s director general Sanjib Kumar Rai said they were relentlessly working for the conservation of plants. Karnali state has been declared a ‘herbs zone’ this year. Presently, 700 species of plants are recorded in Nepal. On the occasion, professor Dr Sangita Rajbhandari was awarded this year’s ‘National Botanical Award’. RSS