Underutilized vegetables as rich source of medicinal value: A boon for the pharmaceutical industries and farmer income

Abstract

In this modern era, there is generally an increased demand of antioxidant, calories and protein rich quality, healthy and nutritious source of food for alleviating the problem of malnutrition and to cope up with ageing disease like cancer. Underutilized crops are undervalued or neglect “minor crops” that are already cultivated, but are underutilized regionally or globally given their still relatively low global production and market value. These crops are important source of valuable nutritional and medicinal components, which are often lacking in staple crops. These nutritional and medicinal components are isolated and used in pharmaceutical industries for synthesis of cancer drugs. Exploitation of these underutilized wild resources is an important way of income and food, especially for the poor farmers who are under employed.