It is learnt that the forest department has opened its new garden of medicinal herbs at Harvalem to the public. The garden called “Harvalem Gram Upavan’ is spread over an area of 13 acres and has more than 180 medicinal plants. Medicinal plants can be grown even in the backyard and the garden. Many medicinal herbs are full of cancer-fighting antioxidants, valuable nutrients, are fat-free and have many more health benefits. Some herbs strengthen the human body’s ability to resist infection and disease. This can be very useful in fighting Coronavirus. Herbs like basil, oregano, mint among others can be used to season up our cooking. Growing medicinal herbs has not caught the imagination of Goans in a big way. The government needs to take steps to give planting of medicinal plants a boost. Citizens need to be provided with the know-how and saplings of medicinal plants. Each and every park in the state needs to have a special enclosure to grow medicinal plants. Children need to be instructed about their benefits.
