Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh on Tuesday dedicated the facilities established under BioNEST incubator to the beneficiaries under Umsning Block in Ri Bhoi district.
The minister also appreciated the efforts of Sister Merly Tom Kizhakhayil for training students for orchid floriculture in her address at the ‘promoting women bio-entrepreneurship in orchid floriculture’ organized by the Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD) in collaboration with Bio Resource Development Centre (BRDC) at Umsning Block of Ri-Bhoi.
Stating that there is tremendous demand for Dendrobium cut flower spikes of commercial standards both in the national and export market, Lyngdoh said locally, there is high demand for the flower especially during the peak wedding season, all souls day and other festivities. In order to meet the demand, florists have to procure the orchid from Thailand or South India.
She however said that the potential of raising commercial standard Dendrobium cut flowers in Meghalaya has not been tapped and this challenge has been taken up jointly by BRDC, Upper Shillong and IBSD, Meghalaya.
“The present project aims to capitalize on Dendrobium cut flower commercial production in Meghalaya, so that bio-resource entrepreneurship is developed and a booming Dendrobium cut flower cottage scale industry is established across the state for gainful employment of women and youth of the region,” she said while adding that this project is conceived on Hub and Spoke model and aims at end-to-end demonstrations of commercial cut flower Dendrobium production technology right at the village level on cluster-based approach for farmers of Ri-Bhoi district. Meghalaya.
During the program, Prof. Pulok Kumar Mukherjee, Director, IBSD addressed the gathering and highlighted on ‘bioeconomy from bioresources’ by synergizing several research to enable the usage of the natural resources with all its perspective of the attributes of NER for locating the region in the new and emerging bioeconomy.
He mentioned that BioNEST incubator has been established by IBSD & BRDC for promoting women bio-entrepreneurship through orchids floriculture in Meghalaya with support from
Biotechnology Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Govt. of India.
IBSD is an institute of Department of Biotechnology, which is working on the bioresource management and its sustainable development through biotechnological interventions in NER which has its presence in Imphal (Manipur), Gangtok (Sikkim), Shillong (Meghalaya) and Aizawl (Mizoram). Major thrust area of IBSD is development of bioeconomy from bioresources with special reference to NER.
In this context, IBSD is synergising all its research activities & outreach programmes for societal upliftment and livelihood generation of this region. Director, IBSD mentioned that major focus of this programme is capacity building and training of women bio-entrepreneurs and farmers from different parts of Ri-Bhoi, Aspirational District of Meghalaya.
Under this programme, more than 100 women entrepreneurs have been trained and encouraged for orchids cultivation and propagation. This project is implemented through a Hub and Spokes model at Umsning Block of Ri-Bhoi district of Meghalaya.
Around 11 villages including Nongdiengngan, Nongmahir, Umshorshor, Mawser, Wahlakha, Umdiker, Umsaw, Sohdade, Sohjarang, Nongkseh and Mawparhut are being covered and targeted with his project.
At present the Hub (poly-house) of 1000 sqm and ten spokes (poly-houses) of 300 sqm each has been installed at the specified sites and provided with dendrobium orchids planting materials.
Director, IBSD also highlighted another collaborative program of IBSD & BRDC under “Himalayan Bioresource Mission” to document, evaluate and scientifically validate rich traditional knowledge of different ethnic communities of Meghalaya.
In line with the exploration of bioresources, IBSD has set up the Phytopharmaceutical mission
program. It is a viable platform for knowledge sharing, which requires scientific validation and ethno-entrepreneurship through the use of traditional medicine and value addition through different perspectives.
In this context, he urged the Government of Meghalaya to set up the phytopharmaceutical mission program for innovation leading to respect for our ‘parampara’, on the use of medicinal plants and bioresources to boost the bioeconomy of the region.