"the Londolozani Orchid Legacy Project... business of propagating and selling... indigenous orchids... artificially propagated from orchids in private collections. ... the project make these... plants available on the local market, contributing to their conservation and the sustainable livelihoods of... women from Khayelitsha and Gugulethu.
... Londolozani... provides entrepreneurship and skills training to a group of mostly women, with the hope that they can then start their own small businesses as orchid farmers, creating sustainable livelihoods. The project, part of the Orchid Legacy Project, has many parts and many partners. ... [farmers] trained by Mike Tibbs, chairman of the Cape Orchid Society and owner of The Exotic Plant Company (TEPC), in propagation methods. ... now working from a greenhouse at the Helderberg Nature Reserve. The Orchid Society, TEPC and King plants will provide the initial plants, which will all be South African and African orchids (many... indigenous orchids are endangered)... the new farmers will continue to propagate them. There is already a substantial market in three-week-old plants from the laboratory... The project is Tibbs's brainchild, and is funded by the Cape Orchid Society, the City of Cape Town, TEPC and King plants. ... The women currently work three days a week - once the project is running and the orchids are available at the reserve for sale... to set up a place where they can also do beadwork, embroidery and needlework with an orchid theme. ... The project is focusing, for now, on a few epiphytic orchids, Aerangis modesta, A fuscata, and A.mystacidii... Indigenous orchids are not easy to come by, says Tibbs. A lot are in private collections, he explains. "We also work closely with CapeNature and are called in to rescue plants before the bulldozers go in," says Tibbs who will be donating his plant stock for propagation. The orchid seeds are germinated artificially with the help of Richard King of King plants, a specialist laboratory that germinates orchid seeds. King is offering his services almost free of charge. When the seedlings are of sufficient size, they're attached to lengths of vine bark (wingerdstokkies)." article URL : http://www.cna.com.tw/eng/cepread.php?id=200703220034 ************** Regards, VB _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
