The Most Relevant Socio-Economic Aspects of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants through a Literature Review

Maria Pergola (), Enrica De Falco, Angelo Belliggiano and Corrado Ievoli
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Maria Pergola: Degree Course of Agriculture, Dipartimento di Farmacia, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, Italy
Enrica De Falco: Degree Course of Agriculture, Dipartimento di Farmacia, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, Italy
Angelo Belliggiano: Dipartimento Agricoltura, Ambiente, Alimenti, Università del Molise, Via de Sanctis III Polifunzionale, 86100 Campobasso, Italy
Corrado Ievoli: Dipartimento Agricoltura, Ambiente, Alimenti, Università del Molise, Via de Sanctis III Polifunzionale, 86100 Campobasso, Italy

Agriculture, 2024, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-20

Abstract: Around the world, medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) play a fundamental role in the economic, social, cultural, and ecological ambits of local communities. Today, the most important uses of MAPs are their applications in the pharmaceutical, perfume, cosmetics, toothpaste, soap, beverage, and food industries. At the same time, the expression MAPs is often used with a plurality of meanings that are not always clear and well-defined. Thus, the paper aims to answer two research questions: (1) to understand how the expression MAPs has been meant over time by scholars, and (2) to realize the weight that socio-economic research regarding MAPs has assumed in this context. To these ends, a literature review was conducted using the scientific database Scopus. The results highlight that researchers started talking explicitly about MAPs in the 1950s, and the geographical focus of the literature on this theme is in India, followed by China. Researchers have published studies concerning the agronomic aspects, cultivation, characterization, and germination techniques of MAPs, but the most cited articles concern the health and beneficial properties of their essential oils. At the same time, nobody has ever wondered what MAPs are, and since 1977, the World Health Organization definition has been taken for granted, and any species with medicinal or aromatic functions is considered to be a MAP. Regarding the socio-economic weight of the research conducted on MAPs, they represent only 1% of the total academic publications, but from them, it has emerged that, especially in rural areas, MAPs depict important sources of income for several local communities. At the same time, there is a need to increase the estimation of the ecosystem services that MAPs offer, the analyses of consumer preferences in the search for new business opportunities, and the environmental impact assessment of the entire supply chain.

Keywords: MAPs; botanicals; economic aspects; medicinal and aromatic proprieties; sustainability; bibliometric and systematic analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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