Orchid is an ornamental plant that is in demand by the public, but not many people can cultivate this plant. This is what encourages students at the Universitas Gadjah Mada from Faculty of Biology, Cultural Sciences and Forestry to join Student Creativity Program’s group of Anggun Ayu (Graceful Beauty), to generate information about the cultivation of orchids to the people in Banyunganti area ofKulon Progo regency in the Mudal River Park on April 29th, 2016.
The team is consisting of Oktaviana Herawati, Hasim Ashari, Farchand Fatoni, Tri Dodi Hermawanto, and Salim Rustandi. They collaborate with Student Activity Unit’s Biology Orchid Study Club (BioSC) to introduce and practice some of the techniques of orchid cultivation.
According to Oktaviana, Banyunganti has potential for an orchid cultivation. Unfortunately, this potential has not been developed so that many orchids grow wild in the yard, forest, and garden.
“People do not realize that the orchid is a very valuable and has a high economic value,” said Oktaviana, Thursday (2/6).
During this time people considered several orchid plants around them are just wild plants that have no economic value. In fact, Kulon Progo district has the special orchids unknown by the public, which is Dendrobium capra type.
“This has become a very important reason to promote the orchids in their natural habitat,” she added.
On the other hand, Kulon Progo Regency Tourism Office will also develop the Mudal River Park Tourism in the future. This area is located on a plateau with enough cool air and water reserves so it would be very supportive to orchid cultivation in the area.
“Most people here work as farmers and they have been very supportive of realization of orchid cultivation,” she concluded.