Last time I was at the government nursery in Union (2008) they had a 6' chain link fence around a piece of dirt next door, the land had been excavated and rumor was the Taiwanese government was going to set up a tissue culture orchid growing facility. There are many rumors in St. Lucia and some very interesting politics (more on that later) but wonder of wonders the greenhouses are there and so are the orchids, lots of them. The facility is state of the art with rolling, crank benches, humidity control, a tissue culture lab for plantlets, concrete floors and auto irrigation. What a sight. I have never grown orchids and do not know a lot about them but they are certainly one of my favorite photographic subjects, orchids love the camera.
We had just a few minutes in the greenhouses before closing and were not able to tour the tissue culture facility, maybe on a future trip. I did manage to snap a few pictures. The impetus for the orchids is a political bond between the Taiwanese government and St. Lucian government with the creation of this center St. Lucia has become the number one grower of orchids in the Caribbean. The object is eduction, employment, tourism, export and local consumption.
The demonstration farm is a technical mission on a 2500 square meter site. The current greenhouse is 1382 square meters with plenty of room for expansion. They produce 40,000 plants yearly and 100,000 plantlets. The current economic value is estimated at 2 million EC with expectations to exceed 5 million EC. It would be nice if the Lucian people would benefit from the this cultural interchange instead of the governments. Only time will tell.
1 comment:
Wow, Fantastic...how beautiful!
Hugs
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