The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is an autonomous organization under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. Formerly known as Imperial Council of Agricultural Research, it was established in 1929 as a registered society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 in pursuance of the report of the Royal Commission on Agriculture. The council is the apex body for coordinating, guiding and managing research and education in agriculture including horticulture, fisheries and animal sciences in the entire country. With 97 ICAR institutes and 47 agricultural universities spread across the country, this is one of the largest national agricultural systems of the world.

The Directorate of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Research (DMARP) – formerly National Research Centre for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants – at Boriavi in Anand district of Gujarat is a national institute of ICAR. It is mandated to develop appropriate production, protection and processing technologies for important MAPs through basic, strategic and applied research and thus contribute to the growth and development of medicinal and aromatic sectors in India.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, India and DMARP of ICAR have together developed an interactive training toolkit to facilitate better application of the WHO guidelines for good agriculture and collection practices (GACP) for medicinal plants. The adoption of GACP in medicinal plant sector will improve livelihood by adding premium price to the produce and also generating additional employment in rural sector for educated youth. This training toolkit is based on the guidelines of GACP for medicinal plants that were developed by the WHO in 2003 to ensure safety, efficacy and quality of raw materials used in herbal medicine. In 2009, the NMPB, in collaboration with the WHO country office for India, developed a set of country-specific guidelines and standards for GACP.