New cropping systems in semi-arid Mediterranean environments: potential role of medicinal and aromatic plants

Abstract

The semi-arid Mediterranean environments represent somehow “fragile” ecosystems, whose correct management needs some special attention. It is crucial therefore to study and point out some innovative farming systems able to deal with an income for workers, but in the meantime environmentally friendly and requiring the minimum energetic and technical inputs. In such sense, the cultivation of some selected medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) could be an important strategy. In our work we made an attempt to to sketch a comprehensive evaluation of the input levels required by 23 selected herbaceous MAPs, taking into consideration the indicative average levels of the energetic (including manpower) and technological inputs required by each of them.