A state of the art Orchidarium and Orchid Production Unit will be setup at Shillong, Meghalaya in a few months time by Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD), a National Institute of Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India.
While laying the foundation stone for the Orchidarium, Conrad K. Sangma, Chief Minister of Meghalaya lauded this unique initiative which will be an important milestone for the state of Meghalaya.
He said Holland is the largest producer of Orchids followed by Thailand whereas Japan is the biggest importer of Orchids. He also said that this initiative of IBSD is in line with the Government’s Make in Meghalaya mission.
In his welcome address, Prof Dinabandhu Sahoo, Director IBSD said that northeast India has more than 850 species of orchids but there are not many high tech state of the art Orchidariums and orchid production units.
In view of this, IBSD will setup orchid production units in different parts of states and will train a large number of unemployed youth, women and farmers to develop orchid based bio-entrepreneurship not only in Meghalaya but in the entire northeast.
He also requested the Chief Minister to provide the necessary assistance to several bioresource based programmes and value addition activities of IBSD , so that the people of the State will benefit.
In his special address, Hamletson Dohling, Urban Affairs Minister of Meghalaya, who also represents the area in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly , congratulated IBSD for this initiative and promised all support for the success of this project which will promote and also conserve the biodiversity of the State, besides boosting the green economy.