By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 18 May: Uttarakhand farmers will soon get additional income to that from their annual harvest. This will be from orchids. In a bid to promote commercial cultivation of orchids in the hill state, Graphic Era Deemed University (GEU) started special training for farmers here today. Biotechnology experts of the university will teach farmers scientific ways to grow one of the most expensive flowers in their fields.
While talking to farmers on the first day of the training programme, GEU experts said that the weather and climatic conditions of Uttarakhand are favourable for the cultivation of orchid flowers. One plant of orchid can fetch farmers up to Rs 1600, they said.
Vice Chancellor, Dr Narpinder Singh said it’s high time that the farmers in the state start doing progressive and scientific farming. This is needed for the overall development of Uttarakhand. Speaking about Graphic Era’s latest initiative to help farmers in the state, he said that the group will soon be setting up centres for farmers in remote and hilly terrain.
Experts apprised the farmers about the latest techniques in commercial cultivation of orchids in the country and also taught them poly-house management methods. Prof Brig RP Nautiyal (Retd) said that there is a growing demand for orchids in the national as well as international markets. He also threw light on research being done on orchids in the Department of Biotechnology. Tomorrow, the experts will teach the farmers scientific production and maintenance techniques of orchids.
Dean, Life Sciences, Prof Preeti Krishna and Head, Department of Biotechnology, Dr Naveen Kumar, were present at the training programme, which was organised by Dr Manu Pant.
