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Taiwan helps Panama breed endangered orchid

Experts from the Taiwan Technical Mission in Panama have helped the Central American country bring one of its endangered orchid species, “the Espiritu Santo,” back from the brink of extinction, the mission said on Thursday.

At a ceremony held in the western Panama city of Capira, Taiwanese Ambassador to Panama Simon Ko (柯森耀) presented seedlings of the “Espiritu Santo,” regarded as Panama’s national orchid, to Panamanian Agriculture and Husbandry Development Minister Victor Perez.

One of the mission’s experts, Huang Chia-hsiang (黃嘉襄), said they adopted biotechnology to cultivate the seedlings in greenhouses and were now able to produce 3,000 plants annually.

The Espiritu Santo project was part of a program launched in 2006 to help Panama cultivate orchids.

Aside from helping revive the endangered species, the Taiwanese experts also selected phalaenopsis (better known as butterfly orchids) to grow in Panama for commercial production.

Perez said that as a veteran operator in the agriculture and husbandry industry, he was deeply impressed by the contributions Taiwan’s mission has made to improving the livelihood of Panama’s farmers, especially low-income farmers.
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