Production of medicinal and aromatic plants for drug industries in Egypt

The flora of Egypt includes about 2000 species of plants distributed in its different localities that vary in type of soil and prevailing climatic and other environmental conditions that hence encourage the growth of a wide range of plant species. In addition, many medicinal plants have been successfully introduced and acclimatized in Egypt. The medicinal plants are in great demand in folk medicine. The modern pharmaceutical industry also requires a large quantity of medicinal plants for manufacture of drugs. Cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants in Egypt is taking place mainly for feeding drug industries and for exportation. It had been cultivated in Delta and Nile Valley especially in Upper Egypt (the old soil). Recently, its cultivation moved to the new reclaimed soils in order to save the fertile soils (the old soil) for the production of strategically crops i.e. cotton, rice and wheat. Several species of medicinal and aromatic plants were subjected to cultivation in the new reclaimed soils in order to achieve the technological package for maximum production of the different studied species. Some of these species are used in drug industry and others are used in production of raw materials for cosmetic industry. New techniques in irrigation (dripping or sprinkler), fertilization, mechanization and organic farming systems were applied in the production of medicinal and aromatic plants in reclaimed soils. Some wild species were subjected for cultivation and production in the new reclaimed lands. The presentation focused on the production of medicinal plants in Egypt either in old soil or in the new reclaimed lands.