Changing Perception Regarding Medicinal Plants

Environmental pollution is one of the most serious problems facing humanity and other life forms on our planet today. It affects the health of more than 100 million people worldwide. They play a significant role in social, economic, cultural, spiritual and health-related aspects of everyday life. In spite of the passive scenario, there had been some rays of hope particularly the growing awareness regarding a need to collect, validate and document ITK of medicinal plants and revival of yoga. Further, the COVID-19 epidemic led to increased attention to herbal medication both for preventive and curative purposes. In this context, the present study was planned to study the effectiveness of extension strategies which can help to change the perception to enhance the use of medicinal plants for health. The data revealed that change in perception regarding smell, taste, cost-effectiveness, standardization of products and ease of using medicinal plants for health increased in all experimental group groups after the intervention. Change in perception was significantly different in control and experimental groups. In terms of change in perception, strategy employing different approaches emerged at the top followed by strategy employing only group and mass approach. The third best strategy was the one in which individual and mass approach was used. Mass approach (ICT based) emerged as the most effective in view of the cost and its diffusion effect.