By the editor:
Plants contain different kinds of chemical substances as well as food materials. These chemical substances are stored in various sections of plants – roots, stems,leaves, flowers, fruits – and these are essential for their health and growth. Some of these plants are helpful to humans so that if used as food items they build and nourish their bodies whereas some may be poisonous which can make a person fall sick or even may lead to death. Therefore, humans should be very careful when dealing with plants. Since earliest, people lacked scientific knowledge, they first observed animals concerning their food habits. From them they came to know which plants were harmless and which were poisonous. So they followed their example and avoided harmful plants. Interestingly, poisonous plants, if consumed in small amounts, were seen to also have curing effects. Some plants were sweet in taste while others were sour and bitter. In their ignorance, people presumed that sweet plants were favoured by the creator and so used as offerings to the Almighty during religious rituals. On the other hand, sour and bitter plants which emitted foul smell were used to drive outevil spirits believed to cause diseases.
Ancient Chinese, Indian, Babylonian and Egyptian civilisations recorded their knowledge about plants in writing and these written accounts of plant remedies werecalled herbals. Spanish conquistadors brought from the New World large number of new plants, including those with medicinal values, to Europe which greatly benefited them. To name only two: morphine derived from the opium poppy plant used to relieve pain and quinine obtained from the bark of cinchona tree for treatment of malaria and other diseases are still used. South American Indians used curare, a deadly poison, on their hunting arrows and Greeks killed their prisoners by means of poison hemlock. Scientists discovered that these fatal plants, if used in small doses, could be used as remedies for certain ailments. Curare helps polio victims and hemlock is useful in case of spasms and convulsions. Strychnine, rat poison from strychnos tree if used in small quantities stimulates the nervous system and the heart.
Buckwheat which grows wild in the state was used by the Khasi Jaintia indigenous population of Meghalaya for many years as a vegetable –usually eaten raw –who believed that it had medicinal properties in curing thyroid diseases. Now it has been proved that buckwheat honey is rich in carbohydrates and protein but has no gluten which helps in maintaining blood sugar level in case of people with diabetes. In the open market, buckwheat honey ranges between Rs 500 to Rs 800per kg. People can earn a good income by making small investments in apiculture in their backyard. Meghalaya Farmer’s (Empowerment) Commission is taking great interest in the cultivation of buckwheat and encourages farmers to start growing it and then expand. Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA)and Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) are government agencies for implementation of the scheme and in this connection a major workshop was held in February this year where farmers were sensitised to take up this crop since climate is very favourable. It is a short duration crop of about three months only and the soil need not be so fertile.