Farmers Perception on Cultivating Medicinal Plants as an Agribusiness Venture: A Study at Pambahinna Agrarian Services Division

Abstract

Herbal plants have used in Sri Lanka for many purposes since early civilization. These herbal plants have a variety of uses including culinary and medicinal and in beauty culture. Recently both national and international demand for Ayurvedic medicinal materials increased due to increased health awareness. However, Sri Lankan cultivations presently do not meet the local demand leading to import many plants from countries like India, Pakistan and Dubai. The objective of this research was to identify farmers' perception on adopting medicinal plant cultivation as an agribusiness. A research was carried in Pambahinna Agrarian Services Division. A survey was conducted among randomly selected sample of 111 farmers within 10 gramaniladari divisions. Data were collected through an interviewer administrated structured questionnaire, face to face interviews and group discussions and analyzed using Minitab version 14.0. Descriptive statistics, graphical explanations, and chi square test were used to elaborate the results. Though the farmers were aware about the value of herbal materials, they showed less motivation and inspirational levels due to lack of information about herbs related agribusinesses ventures. Chi square analysis revealed that experience and knowledge on herbal planting do not have a relationship with education level but with years of farming, age, and gender. Majority of the farmers are willing to start this business but only a few of them are currently practicing in a minor scale. Another reason for poor adaptation is the lack of knowledge about and access to the good planting material for a commercial level cultivation. In order to develop this sector both private and government sector should work together to initiate awareness programs, breeding and distribution of planting materials and maintain an unambiguous supply chain.