School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, King Edward Avenue, Pietermaritzburg 3209, South Africa; Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 132# Lanhei Road, Heilongtan, Kunming, Yunnan, China.
Traditional Medicinals, 4515 Ross Road, Sebastopol, CA 95472, USA.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2018 Oct 28;225:42-52. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2018.06.033. Epub 2018 Jun 28.
Swertia chirayita is the most widely traded species in a genus of 150 species, many of which are used in traditional medicine. S. chirayita is used mainly in Ayurvedic and Tibetan systems of medicine and the homoeopathic system of medicine as well as in regional folk medicine. Primarily wild collected, with some cultivation. S. chirayita is traded as a medicinal substance and exported in the forms of dried whole plant or extract of whole plant individually and/or as active ingredients of Ayurvedic medicines. S. chirayita export valuations continue to make S. chirayita one of Nepal's highest foreign exchange earning medicinal plant species.
The aims of this review were first, to assess the scale of the global trade in S. chirayita, second, to review evidence from plant population biology and from studies on the impacts of wild harvest on S. chirayita populations and cultivation as an alternative source of supply.
The taxonomy and trade names for S. chirayita were reviewed, followed by a synthesis of published information on Swertia population biology and studies on impacts of wild S. chirayita harvest from across the geographic range of this species. Data on the prices paid for S. chirayita were then compiled for the period 2001-2017, followed by an analysis of global trade data for S. chirayita.
Based on India import data and assuming an estimate in an earlier study that 60% of Nepal's S. chirayita production goes to India and 35% to Tibet, then Nepal's 2013 annual production was about 711 metric tonnes (MT) of which about 675.6 MT would be exported (India + Tibet). Nepal's 2014 annual production would be an estimated 503.25 MT of which about 478 MT would be exported. Declines in S. chirayita populations have been widely noted across its range. In India, since 2004, a ban was placed on the export of wild harvested S. chirayita by the Government of India, where the Director General of Foreign Trade prohibited export of S. chirayita plants, plant portions and their derivatives and extracts obtained from the wild with the exception of 'formulations'. Cultivation of S. chirayita to meet commercial demand has been an important part of a solution to over-exploitation of wild stocks in eastern Nepal for 25 years, producing significant quantities that enter the export trade to India and Tibet. In Sankhuwasabha district, for example, 53.1 MT of S. chirayita were produced in 2013/014, just over half of which (27 MT) were exported to India, with the remainder exported to Tibet. Based on value-chain analysis and cost-benefit assessments, S. chirayita cultivation has been shown to be profitable in Nepal. However, since the first cost-benefit assessment was done (2013), prices dropped from NRs750/kg in April 2013 to a low of 250 NRs/kg in December 2017). Taking inflation into account further highlights the steep decline in the profitability for local farmers, who have limited options for value-adding. Consequently, farmers prefer to grow more profitable alternative crops, such as Nepal cardamom (Amomum subulatum Roxb.).
獐牙菜是 150 种植物属中分布最广的物种之一，其中许多种被用于传统医学。獐牙菜主要在印度教阿育吠陀医学和藏医系统以及顺势疗法医学系统以及地区民间医学中使用。主要是野生采集，有一些栽培。獐牙菜作为药用物质进行交易，并以干燥的整株植物或整株植物提取物的形式单独出口，或以阿育吠陀药物的活性成分出口。獐牙菜的出口估值使其成为尼泊尔外汇收入最高的药用植物物种之一。
本次综述的目的首先是评估獐牙菜的全球贸易规模，其次是评估植物种群生物学的证据以及对野生獐牙菜种群的影响的研究和作为替代供应来源的栽培。
对獐牙菜的分类学和贸易名称进行了综述，然后对该物种的地理分布范围内的獐牙菜种群生物学和对野生獐牙菜采集的影响的研究进行了综合分析。然后，收集了 2001 年至 2017 年期间獐牙菜价格的相关数据，随后对獐牙菜的全球贸易数据进行了分析。
根据印度的进口数据，并假设在早期研究中估计尼泊尔 60%的獐牙菜产量销往印度，35%销往西藏，那么尼泊尔 2013 年的年产量约为 711 公吨（MT），其中约 675.6 MT 将出口（印度+西藏）。尼泊尔 2014 年的年产量预计为 503.25 公吨，其中约 478 公吨将出口。在其分布范围内，獐牙菜种群的减少已被广泛记录。在印度，自 2004 年以来，印度政府禁止野生采集的獐牙菜出口，外贸总局禁止出口野生獐牙菜植物、植物部分及其衍生物和提取物，除“制剂”外。25 年来，在尼泊尔东部地区，为满足商业需求而种植獐牙菜一直是解决过度开发野生资源的重要手段，已生产出大量獐牙菜进入印度和西藏的出口贸易。例如，在桑库瓦萨巴哈县，2013/014 年生产了 53.1 公吨獐牙菜，其中一半以上（27 公吨）出口到印度，其余出口到西藏。基于价值链分析和成本效益评估，在尼泊尔种植獐牙菜已经被证明是有利可图的。然而，自第一次进行成本效益评估（2013 年）以来，价格已从 2013 年 4 月的每公斤 750 尼泊尔卢比降至 2017 年 12 月的 250 尼泊尔卢比。考虑到通货膨胀因素，进一步突出了当地农民盈利能力的急剧下降，他们增值的选择有限。因此，农民更喜欢种植更有利可图的替代作物，如尼泊尔小豆蔻（Amomum subulatum Roxb.）。
