ORCHID

According
to
Greek mythology,
Orchis the son of a satyr and a nymph was attending a festival of Bacchus, the god
of wine. Getting drunk, he tried to rape a priestess. The other guests tore Orchis to
pieces for the insult. His father prayed to the gods to restore him but they did not grant
his prayers. Instead, they made him into a beautiful flower: the orchid.
Farmers to take nethouse route for exotic flower export
- Agriculture scientists develop means to cultivate orchids commercially
Gautam Sarkar in Bhagalpur

fortune

Scientist Randhir Kumar examines an orchid at a polyhouse on the Bihar Agriculture

University campus in Sabour. Pictures by Amit Kumar
Anandi Mandal, a farmer from the outskirts of Sabour, usually cultivates vegetables. But
he could soon start tending to flowers as an alternative source of earning.
At Bihar Agriculture University in Sabour, around 8km east from Bhagalpur and 231km
east from Patna, scientists are developing means to cultivate the flower commercially in
nethouses or polyhouses to provide local farmers with an alternative livelihood.
Keeping in mind the high demand for the exotic flowers in the country and abroad, the
scientists are using tissue culture methods to cultivate orchids, said Bihar Agriculture
University vice-chancellor M.L. Choudhary.
He added that the university would start distributing the plants and seeds among local
farmers next year. The scientists would also train them in the latest technology.
The varsity recently received Rs 1.8 crore to develop means for commercial cultivation
of vegetables and flowers under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana a special project of
the Union government. The university used this money to import high-yielding variety
of orchids from Poland and bought some flowers from Bangalore.
Each plant costs between Rs 110 and Rs 120. Most of them are imported and we are
developing them with tissue culture methods. We hope to give the farmers the flowers,

sapling and seeds next year at Rs 8 to Rs 10, said Randhir Kumar, a senior scientist at
the university and head of the orchid project.
He added that all orchids were perennial herbs and lacks any permanent woody
structure. Perennials are those plants, which live for more than two years, different from
annual or biennial plants that complete their biological life cycle in a year or two
respectively. An orchid plant can survive for three to five years, yielding flowers round
the year.
They can grow either as monopodial (the stem of the plant grows from a single bud and
leaves sprout from the apex every year) or sympodial (the stem produces a series of
adjacent shoots). The sympodial variety grows laterally, flowing the ground for support,
to a certain length, blooms and are then replaced with new shoots and leaves.
A variety of flowers can be grown in both methods but the sympodial species yield
more. Around 12 to 14 flowers can grow on one stick, Kumar said.
He added: Bright Singapore and Sonia White are the best varieties for the weather
conditions in this region.
In the five poly houses on the varsity campus, the plants are grown on nylon or plastic
fibres at a height of 3ft from the ground. They are placed on low iron structures
resembling goalposts. The high humidity (70 per cent to 80 per cent) and moderate
temperature (32C) required for the orchid plantation can easily be regulated inside the
polyhouses.
Scientist Randhir Kumar said more than 5,000 plants can be cultivated in a garden of
500sqm area. The cost of setting up a polyhouse garden is around Rs 450 to Rs 450 per
sqm.
The overall cost of developing a polyhouse is between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 4 lakh. But
farmers can get around 90 per cent subsidy from the state government under Bihar
Bhagwani Mission, the scientist added.
Besides the flowers, leafy vegetables and root crops like potatoes, carrots and radishes
can also be cultivated below the iron posts.
Water and fertilisers can be supplied to the plants through fogging, Kumar said.
Fogging is a method of spraying substance less than 50 micro metres.

Farmers have already started to visit the poly houses at the university to pick up the
means of cultivating the exotic flowers. Their hopes are not unfounded, claims scientist
Kumar. There is quite a potential for marketing orchids in cities and abroad. Orchids
have a good market in Bangkok. Flowers are exported from Guwahati, Gangtok and
Calcutta. It is used for decorative purposes at homes and also events like marriages and
festivals, he said.
In Patna, one has to shell out Rs 50 for an orchid. They are usually available in a bouquet
of a dozen.
phalaenopsis, vanda, dendrobiums, cattleyas,ascocentrums, oncidiums, cymbidiums
For commercial cultivation,dendrobiums are the most prefered.
For training you can contact the below address.
Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board
R-7, Market Yard, Gultekadi,
Pune 411 037.
Maharashtra, India
Tel: 020 2426 1190, 2426 8297
Fax: 020 2427 2095
E-Mail: msamb@vsnl.com

Forest Department of Arunachal Pradesh has set up orchid farms at Tippi and Sessa. In
Arunachal pradesh there is a society for orchids
The orchid research and development station in Tippi.
Orchid Sanctuary in Sessa and Dirang.
Orchidorium in Yercaud, BSI,Yercaud.