Making orchids work in Goa Goa needs more orchid growers on this road....to success!
Floriculture /// By Miguel Braganza Orchids belong to the largest family of flowering plants, Orchidaceae, which has 800 genera and about 35,000 species. The current commercial interest in Goa is in Dendrobium, just one of these 800 genera and more specifically in Dendrobium Sonia, just one cultivar from one amongst its 35,000 species. The important thing to remember is that we are now in business; not research and definitely not for growing orchids as a hobby. Once we are clear on this, it is easier to find the way forward. No matter what is said by whom, currently there is no scheme specifically to promote the cultivation of orchids. Yes, one can obtain a subsidy of 25% of the investment limited to Rs 5 lakhs through the bank from which one obtains a loan to finance the project. So one is looking at a bankable project, approvals, sanction of loan and 12-16% interest on loan to obtain the subsidy into one's loan account. If one has the money to invest on one's own -- as many NRI Goans or NRGs would want to -- there is no subsidy. No point in a 'make believe' scenario. The 'scheme' is at best a pacifier for those crying for subsidy; it is no feeding bottle to the orchid enthusiasts. This scheme has been in existence for a whole financial year 2002-03 and can be found in the Citizens Charter. Just ask the Directorate of Agriculture, and one will know how much of a success it is in terms of loan and subsidy disbursal. Quite a few persons have set up projects, in orchids or otherwise, during this period in Goa. Three-fourths of another financial year has also gone by. The change between the Citizens Charter of August 2002 and of November 2003 is cosmetic -- the colour of the cover has changed from white to green -- except for the fact that the subsidy scheme is now linked to Chief Minister's Rozgar Yojana and implemented through the Economic Development Corporation. Recently, the Chief Minister brought the curtain down on the Plant Utsav at the Garcia da Orta Garden in Panjim. The focus of the sixth Plant Utsav was floriculture and co-operative marketing of horticultural produce. A shade-net house containing the flowering anthuriums and orchids; a life-size, functional Krishi Ghar with vegetables, flavoured milk and other produce; Women's Entrepreneurs Group had a snacks stall and members, both men and women, from the various Self-Help Groups (SHGs) from the watershed areas of Canacona and Sanguem occupied the place of pride at the venue that also had an operational tender coconut vend to quench one's thirst naturally. Florance Flora, a Bangalore-based company that has set up shop in Sikkim, readily agreed to set up a specially fabricated stall to display the commercial orchids and promote their sale. Dr.M.M.Dawn, a specialist in tissue culture, specially flew down from Sikkim to be available for interaction with the local orchid growers along with the local representative, Lolit Aggarwal. This was possible largely due to the interaction of orchid growers and suppliers held by the Directorate of Agriculture at the instance of Chief Secretary Dev Singh Negi. The Goa Government's efforts to promote these two crops, that are ideally suited for Goa's climate, type of land holding, investment conditions as well as the nature of its people, got a shot in the arm. One can grow a thousand orchids in just one hundred square metres of ground or terrace area. The hitch is that it costs about Rs.200,000 to do that. Potential entrepreneurs in Goa got a chance to see the plants and to discuss the cultivation aspects with the persons having field experience. Last month, Rozendo Mendonsa jumped into the orchid bandwagon with a thousand orchid plants from Orchis Flora- Mangalore, at his Mr Farmer unit along the NH17 at Guirim. One of these days, a new unit with fifteen thousand plants will go on stream at the village Sal in Bicholim taluka close to the border with Maharashtra. Appropriately christened as "Goa Flora", this joint venture of Vivek Naik with Florance Flora could see the blooming of thousands of orchids by the festive time of IFFI. Vivek Naik is a leading nursery-man owning one of the three large, nationally-registered, cashew nurseries under the name of Vishal Nursery at Sal. In addition to the obvious focus on orchids and anthuriums, there will be stalls for sale of other garden plants, garden equipment, manures and other inputs that are confirmed by Nisarg Garden, Mr.Farmer, Vikas Nursery, Garden Glory Florist, Kakoda Farms, Dande's, Viraj Nursery, The Bonsai Shop, Godrej Agrovet and a few other nurseries. Advocate Bernado Souza of Margao, the president of the Anthurium & Orchids Association of Goa, recently commented: "We need to express that all concerned and interested have to pool efforts to make Goa a land of flowers. We have to obtain assistance from BSG, Sahyadris from Mangalore, SPIC from Coimbatore, Florance Flora, etc. and organise sale of these high valued flowers to other states in Goa and exploit the export potential by taking advantage of well established transport facilities by air, rain and road." One may like to add Orchis Florist-Mangalore, Toyo Floriculture Co. of Quilon and Goa Flora-Sal to the list of orchid plant suppliers and World Wide Fund for Nature-Goa, Green Heritage Eco Club-Siolim, the YCMOU (Yeshwantrao Chavan Open University) students and their Horticulture Association of Goa and the students of Saraswat Eduction Society-Mapusa who are doing their vocational course in Floriculture at the Plus-2 level to the list of organizations that can promote the commercial cultivation of orchids in Goa. Chief Secretary Negi had this to say at the Plant Utsav inaugural function, "The government and the people have to diversify in other fields for income generation. The high input as well as high output of agricultural produce like orchids and anthuriums could be one solution. Goa has the most congenial conditions for such activities." Negi said that the state would witness planting of around a hundred thousand orchids and anthuriums by March 2004 and observed that government would shift from its current mind- set as well as the use of existing technology, for promotion of horticulture and floriculture. He also maintained that the sales of local agricultural produce have increased since setting up of the Krishi Ghars in the state. "The future will witness large quantity of vegetables cultivated in Goa," he claimed. Mr Negi also acknowledged the active and constructive participation of the non-government organisations and SHGs in the Goan agricultural sector. What is now required is a State sector scheme to supplement the Centrally sponsored scheme on Floriculture in the limited sector of orchids. The Kerala pattern of 75% subsidy on approved projects could be used for one financial year to leapfrog into the commercial arena, both locally and internationally. Goa already has Dr.Rajeevan from Kerala Agriculture University as an advisor to the Government. One now needs the subsidy scheme to operationalize and commercialize orchid cultivation quickly. It may be worthwhile to learn vicariously from the pitfalls of the scheme in Kerala. Many units of a thousand plants each are good for the local market; they do not make sense in the world scenario. Kerala has learnt this the hard way. Goa should learn from it without experiencing the same. Larger commercial units like Bangalore's Dutch roses units on Tumkur Road make sense in the market-driven global economy. Today, orchids from Thailand have a landed cost of Rs.9 per spike of 7-9 flowers. No one will buy local orchids at the current rate Rs.2.50 per flower by the end of 2004. Hobby growers are unwilling to sell for less; commercial growers would willingly sell to survive. Business knows no emotions; only money and profits! There is a need for a change in the mindset not only among the bureaucrats and technocrats, but also among the wannabe orchid growers. Vivek Naik of Goa Flora has begun his journey as aptly described by the poet Robert Frost, on 'the road less travelled by" and you bet it is going to "make all the difference." Goa needs more orchid growers on this road....to success! ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
