The Himachal Pradesh government has drawn up a new plan to revive the floriculture sector, including introducing orchid cultivation.
Under the World Bank-funded Horticulture Development Project, the state government will provide help to farmers and orchardists for orchid flower cultivation. It hopes more production on less land will add to the income of growers.
A team of horticulture officers are at the Central Orchid Research Centre in Sikkim, which has a similar climate to Himachal Pradesh, to study ways to introduce commercial cultivation of orchids. The team will receive training on marketing orchids, too. An orchid plant fetches ₹250 to ₹300 and can be grown commercially in nets or shed houses.
Kushal Singh Mehta, a floriculture expert, intensive flower cultivation will help farmers. After the team is back, it will organize awareness camps at the block level to make farmers and fruit growers aware of orchid cultivation.
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