Chief Secretary Manish Kumar Gupta met virtually with India’s ambassador to Thailand, Nagesh Singh, to discuss international collaboration in orchid growing and to provide new impetus to Arunachal Pradesh’s ambitious Orchid Mission. In order to support both scientific and commercial orchid production in the state, the discussions centered on luring Thai private investments, locating premium planting supplies, and gaining access to technological know-how. Training farmers, farmer producer organizations (FPOs), and self-help groups (SHGs) to increase agricultural efforts received particular focus. The state is looking for Thai assistance to establish a model orchid cluster and a center of excellence under a public-private partnership (PPP) framework, with a special focus in tissue culture technology transfer.
