Back in the mid-1990s, before the era of internet, mobile phones and satellite televisions, the government-run terrestrial broadcaster Bangladesh Television (BTV) was the only source of visual entertainment for the people of this country. In those days, the government ran social awareness videos on issues such as the importance of not cutting down trees, oral […]

The descendants of locals who once cut down trees that bore healing leaves are now actively planting and cultivating medicinal trees.

“There is now a growing interest in people about traditional or alternative medicine. That’s why people are now planting medicinal plants in pots at their houses even in the urban areas. For example, if anyone has a cough, they might want to treat it with tulsi leaves. If they have constipation, they might want triphala,” he explains.

Centering the cultivation of medicinal plants and the formation of the nurseries in the area, the Kholabaria village market has now become a major national hub of raw materials for herbal medicine.

According to a study, Indo-Aryans noted the use of medicinal plants in the Rig Veda at around 4,500-1,600 BCE. It said that Bangladesh being a country of this Indian subcontinent also possesses a great diversity in plants.

According to the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, there are 722 species of medicinal plants in Bangladesh compared with 4,000 in India.