New Delhi, March 20 (IANS): The AYUSH ministry has set up a National Medicinal Plants Board for the overall development, processing and cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants, parliament was told on Friday.

"Certain medicinal plants are threatened and endangered, causing their short supply, due to which the industry perceives difficulties in the procurement of medicinal plant materials like guggul, katuki, kuth and jatamansi," Minister of State for AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) Shripad Yesso Naik said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

According to the AYUSH ministry, the country has 7,835 licensed manufacturers of ayurvedic medicines and 1,209 manufacturers of unani, siddha and homoeopathic medicines, who require the plants for the medicines' manufacture.

Naik said that a scheme has been rolled out for supporting the conservation of medicinal plants.

The government of India has also set up a council of ayurveda, siddha, unani and homoeopathy having 80 research centres in the country. An extramural research scheme has been implemented to support project-based research activities, he added.

Naik said a public sector undertaking called Indian Medicines Pharmaceutical Corporation Limited has been set up as well to manufacture ayurvedic and unani medicines.