PROSPECTS OF GROWING MEDICINAL, ESSENTIAL OIL AND SPICY AROMATIC CULTURES

Abstract

This work is devoted to the analysis of the most common issues faced by manufacturers of medicinal and essential oil raw materials — the market, the availability and availability of wild raw materials, agro-ecological conditions, the amount of manual labor, its cost, investments in quality seeds and equipment, post-harvest processing and the overall profitability of production. Cultivation of medicinal, essential oil and aromatic plants today is not only a promising alternative to the collection of wild raw materials, which allows preserving the natural biodiversity of plants with medicinal properties, including those species that have a protective status, but is also a powerful branch of the economy that provides high quality raw materials for the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries. As a rule, medicinal and essential oil plants are considered by agricultural producers as secondary crops, as their cultivation is associated with certain problems. These problems are common to both small and powerful agricultural enterprises, both in Ukraine and abroad. They are related to both technological aspects of growing and plant identification, as well as market fluctuations and product prices. Consumers of medicinal and essential oil raw materials increasingly prefer cultivated products, because under such conditions it is easier to predict yield and ensure quality compared to wild-grown raw materials. During cultivation, false identification and unintentional falsification of raw materials are almost excluded, and the use of improved methods of cultivation and the use of modern varieties allows planning the harvest and costs. The profitability of growing medicinal and essential oil crops competes with traditional field crops, which have highly specialized equipment, a significant list of zoned varieties and hybrids, standard procedures for applying fertilizers and protective means, etc. In contrast to the cultivation of traditional crops, in order to ensure the profitability of the production of medicinal and essential oil raw materials, it is necessary to use methods with low production costs in order to be competitive on the international market and with the production of raw materials from natural groups. The work uses generalized material, both from our own many years of scientific and practical experience in the cultivation of medicinal and essential oil raw materials, as well as the experience of scientists and practitioners of foreign countries. On the example of the experience of foreign countries and domestic researchers and producers, the authors sought to prove that the cultivation of agricultural crops for obtaining essential oil and medicinal raw materials is a profitable business and can be considered as a variant of niche crops, be an attractive option for small farms and family farms. Within the scope of this review, it is impossible to consider all the problematic issues of the widespread introduction of medicinal and essential oil crops into the practice of agricultural production, since many more problems need to be solved, which can be the subject of future experiments and research.