Mizoram CM Lan Thanhawla inaugurates IBSD in the state

Our Correspondent

Imphal, April 21 (EMN): After being established its activities in Manipur, Meghalaya and Sikkim, the Institute of bio-resources & sustainable development (IBSD), a national institute under the department of Biotechnology, government of India has formally entered the state of Mizoram as part of its big strides in new research and development programme.

The mandate of IBSD is to bring socio-economic development of the Northeast region through sustainable utilisation of bio-resources. Mizoram Chief minister Lan Thanhawla on April 21 inaugurated IBSD at Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram, in presence of Prof. Dinabandhu Sahoo, Director IBSD at Nursery Veng in Aizawl.

While inaugurating the state-of-the-art facilities, Lan Thanhawla lauded IBSD and said that IBSD has already taken several initiatives in Northeast and now its presence here will bring a lot of prosperity and development to the state of Mizoram which will boost the bio-economy the region.

With the establishment of IBSD Mizoram, the outreach activities in Mizoram to start with, would be centred around sustainable technologies for protected and open cultivation of important vegetable crops in farmers fields and IBSD Main Hub Mizoram, Lan Thanhawla said.

In his speech, Prof Dinabandhu Sahoo said that the presence of IBSD will bring together different departments, institutes and universities which will create a biotech hub in the region through technological interventions and develop technological packages. It will undertake human resources development for sustainable utilization of bio-resources for creation of jobs and economic development of the state of Mizoram.

The units to serve as nucleus facility that would finally culminate into centre of excellence for protected cultivation, the units will produce quality of commercial value. It will also provide trainings on production, post-harvest management and marketing to the farmers and unemployed youth said Prof Sahoo. He added that Mizoram has a huge potential to become a biotech hub in the country due to its rich biodiversity, climatic conditions and good air connectivity. IBSD will focus on value addition to Bamboo and other crops unique to Mizoram. It may be mentioned that IBSD has been promoting cherry blossom (Sakura) initiative in Northeast and organised India’s First Cherry Blossom Festival in North East in 2016. I am sure Mizoram will not only become a major tourism destination but a role model state in the country, said Prof.