Orchid farm soon to be tourist attraction!

Butterfly Orchids will soon be the star attraction at a tourism oriented farm in Union, St. Lucia! What would you say if you were told that St Lucia was home to the largest and the overall best Orchid Centre in the Caribbean? Most people would first question when exactly Orchids became a big deal in St Lucia in the first place, but truth be told, the Taiwanese Embassy has been promoting the high value product for some time now. Monday, December 7 marked the opening ceremony for an Orchid Centre at the Taiwanese Demonstration Farm in Union. At the ceremony Taiwanese ambassador Tom Chou welcomed all to the “Kingdom of the Butterfly Orchid.” The Taiwanese ambassador went on to explain why the Taiwanese wanted to develop the Orchid industry in St Lucia. The ambassador said Orchids would do well in a warm climate in St Lucia and the plant did not need much space to grow. There was also not surprisingly a high market for Orchids in St Lucia and the Caribbean. “We chose butterfly orchid as our main product because it has beautiful colours, shapes, and last longer (in average six weeks),” said Chou. With Taiwan being the world’s largest Orchid exporter, its introduction to St Lucia had been in the works for some time. Twenty-five percent of the world’s Orchid market share goes to Taiwan with a total export value of EC $220 million. At the opening ceremony Chou said Taiwan’s experience in Orchid production and marketing would prove to be very useful for St Lucia. A tissue culture lab and green house was completed in September this year for mass production purposes. At the ceremony it was revealed that the newly completed sophisticated green house (1,382 square meters) provided the ideal environment for Orchids to grow through temperature and humidity control. Moreover, Tom Chou said the greenhouse could also control blossom timing. A method that made it possible to have the flowers all year round, rather than just six months a year.

The opening of the Orchid Centre was a grand affair at the Demonstration Farm in Union. The sophisticated green house can accommodate at least 40,000 orchid plants while another ordinary green house can accommodate 100,000 plantlets from the tissue culture lab. The interior designs of the greenhouses, such as temperature control and maximum utilization of space, are the most advanced in the Caribbean. The centre plans to produce 30,000 orchids a year in the early stage with market value of EC$ 1.2 million. “We can increase the production according to the market demand,” Chou said. According to the Taiwanese Ambassador the short-term goal of the Orchid project is to attract local consumers and cruise ship visitors. The mid-term and long-term goals are the Caribbean and the world markets, respectively. Chou had high hopes of helping St Lucia achieve EC$5 million a year as a long-term goal, something he said had to be worked for. “With strong support of the prime minister and agriculture minister Ezechiel Joseph, this joint effort project is making excellent progress,” said Tom Chou. “We have put a lot of efforts in upgrading the agricultural sector by introducing new technology and good potential products. Moreover, we also integrate tourism into the agriculture that will benefit farmers and the tourism industry. We are transferring the Union farm into a tourism farm.” In the future the Taiwanese ambassador said persons would have to buy tickets to enter the Kingdom of Butterfly Orchids! Professional guides would take interested parties into the fascinating world of Orchids, and of course, according to Chou, “coffee, cold drinks and snacks will be sold here too.” “At the end of his speech Chou noted that the beautiful Orchids matched the image of St Lucia, as the island was known to be the best honeymoon destination in the world. In his words: “The beautiful colours of butterfly Orchid match the image of this country and will make the island more unique than other Caribbean countries.”