Assessment and selection of potential medicinal plants in Lao Cai province: A multi - criteria analysis

Abstract

Medicinal plants play an important role in the existence and development of humanity. In developing countries, medicinal plants contribute to improving livelihoods and fostering socio - economic development. This study was conducted in Lao Cai province using Rapid rural appraisal (RRA) and Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) methods, combined with multi - criteria analysis (using the Analytic hierarchy process - AHP) to analyze four groups of criteria aimed at identifying potential medicinal plants in Lao Cai province. The research results show that from 2012 to 2022, there was not only an increase in the area of land cultivated with medicinal plants from 375.6 hectares to 3,550.0 hectares, but also an adjustment in the land area structure among different medicinal plants. The results of the AHP analysis indicate that economics-infrastructure is the most important criterion when selecting medicinal plants, with a weight of 0.558, while the criteria of social, natural conditions and environment have weights of 0.263, 0.122 and 0.057, respectively. The aggregated weights of the criteria identified 5 out of 10 medicinal plants: Platycodon grandiflorum (Jacq.) A. DC, Panax notoginseng, Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels, Folium cynarae scolymi and Ligusticum wallichii Franch, which are recommended as the most promising medicinal plants and should be prioritized for strong development in the future.