Yasmin Momin

Lemongrass (Cymbopogon flexuosus) was the second Indian foreign exchange-earning essential oil plant. The world demand for plant-based raw materials of essential oils for drugs and pharmaceuticals is increasing rapidly. Cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants for their active principle and essential oils is usually highly remunerative. There is enough prospect of these oil-yielding plants to bring about diversification of cropping patterns of such cash crops for the upliftment of the rural economy. Cultivation of essential oil-bearing plants on scientific and commercial lines was started in India about 80 years ago. During the last fifty years, the Indian essential oil industry has made excellent progress.