The Kerala experience
The Girijan Cooperative Society in Kerala is responsible for managing over 120 non-timber forest produce that includes a sizeable number of medicinal plants. However, present assessments show that the cooperative is plagued by problems similar to the one Uttaranchal faces. A comparison of the prices offered by the cooperative and the private traders show that the prices offered by the latter are much higher.
According to an International Deve lopment Research Centre report on the medicinal plant sector of India, the prices (for species in high demand) between the one offered by the cooperative to the collector and that by the raw drug trader varied between 767 per cent to 1,757 per cent.
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| Species | Price offered by cooperatives (Rs) | Price offered by traders (Rs) | Percentage variation in price |
| Adhatoda vasica | 1.40 | 13.75 | 882 |
| Eclipta alba | 1.00 | 8.67 | 767 |
| Clerodendron serratum | 1.9 | 28.00 | 1,374 |
| Cyperus rotundus | 1.9 | 12.75 | 571 |
| Syzigium cumini | 1.4 | 16.67 | 1,091 |
| Tragia involucrata | 4.75 | 29.88 | 529 |
| Helicteres ixora | 1.15 | 10.50 | 813 |
| Phyllanthus amarus | 1 | 18.57 | 1,757 |
| Momordica dioica | 3.3 | 37.67 | 1,042 |
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