Manipur gov. inaugurates orchid production unit

Our Correspondent
Imphal, Aug. 16 (EMN): Manipur governor, Dr. Najma Heptulla, on Thursday inaugurated the facility for mass production of orchids and a farmers’ hostel inside the bio-resources park of the Institute of Bio-resources and Sustainable Development (IBSD), a national institute of department of biotechnology, located at Hararou village, 16 km north of Imphal under Imphal East district.
Dr. Heptulla lauded the initiative of IBSD to promote high value bio-resources for the socio-economic development of the region and also in having created a model of sustainable development at its bio-resources park in Manipur.

In her address, Dr. Heptulla expressed the need to take up cash crops cultivation besides taking up valued addition activities to realise the Prime Minister’s initiative to double the farmers’ income by 2022.

She further expressed her happiness saying that the plastic flowers especially orchids would be soon be replaced by the natural ones. She informed that orchids have become a status symbol in Delhi- a luxurious item of decoration during weddings because of its high cost. She encouraged the people to treat plants kindly for they can feel like human beings.

While expressing her concern over jhum cultivation, she appealed to the people to engage in multi-cropping system for soil preservation.
Director of IBSD, Prof. Dinabandhu Sahoo, said the hi-tech facility would provide lakhs of cut orchid flowers per annum and would be a boon to farmers and unemployed youth of the entire Northeast region. He said IBSD has already setup 10 such units in farmers’ fields adding training had been imparted to over 750 unemployed youth and farmers.

With the high rate of unemployment in the region, he said biotechnology based enterprise is one of the best options for the socio-economic development of the Northeast region as establishment of heavy industries would damage the environment.

While highlighting activities of the institute in transforming the existing bio-resources park from its previous conditions, Prof. Sahoo said the park located at the foothill fields of Haraorou village measuring around 40 acres could be a hub for orchids in the near future considering the requirement of the population.

The idea of developing mass cultivation of orchids was necessitated when people started to use imported plastic orchids for the social gatherings etc, he said.
Prof. Sahoo also invited the people from all over the country to visit the national bio-resources park, where state-of-the-art facilities have been installed including commercial orchid production facility, aromatic plant cultivation as well as a 50 bedded farmers’ hostel.

He felt that these initiatives were launched in line with the national mission to double farmers’ income by 2022 and to showcase a model of sustainable development, which could be replicated in other parts of the country.