Jalpaiguri: For the first time in North Bengal, orchid cultivation through tissue culture is set to begin, marking a major milestone in advanced floriculture and horticultural development in the region. The state Horticulture department has approved the establishment of an orchid tissue culture unit at Sannyasikata in the Rajganj block of Jalpaiguri district.
The facility will undertake tissue culture propagation of 24 orchid varieties, including popular tropical species such as Dendrobium, Cattleya, Cymbidium and Vanda.
Significantly, the unit will focus on tropical orchid varieties capable of surviving high summer temperatures, a move expected to provide a major boost to commercial orchid cultivation across the plains of North Bengal.
District Horticulture department’s assistant director Khurshid Alam said that at present, tissue-cultured orchid saplings are imported from Thailand at considerable cost. “The high import and maintenance expenses result in elevated market prices, discouraging many potential buyers,” he said. The new project, involving an investment of several crore rupees, will receive a 40 per cent subsidy from the Horticulture Department. He added that the initiative has already encouraged several entrepreneurs to come forward for large-scale orchid cultivation.
Currently, tropical orchids imported from Thailand are being grown at the Horticulture department’s farm in Mohitnagar, Jalpaiguri. The newly sanctioned Sannyasikata unit has set an ambitious target of producing 10 lakh tissue-cultured orchid saplings annually. Orchid trader Prashanta Chowdhury said demand for orchids has risen sharply across several northeastern states, as well as in the Darjeeling and Kalimpong hills. “Earlier, orchids were mainly used for home décor. Now they are equally popular as gifts…,” he said. Officials noted that rising daytime temperatures and erratic weather patterns in the Northeast have made it difficult for orchids adapted to cooler climates to survive. In response, the department plans to prioritise tropical, heat-tolerant varieties through tissue culture.