Forum: NParks will continue to engage the orchid industry and support its needs

We thank the Forum writer for her feedback (Look into the plight of orchid nursery owners in Singapore, Oct 18) and have spoken to her about efforts by the National Parks Board (NParks) to support the orchid industry and the Singapore Botanic Gardens’ work in orchid propagation and hybridisation.

Orchids are an integral part of our heritage and have been a key focus of the Gardens since its early days. The Gardens propagates orchids and displays important orchid hybrids that are significant to Singapore’s heritage and history, including our national flower, Papilionanthe Miss Joaquim. 

It has an orchid hybridisation programme to breed new and interesting orchid hybrids for naming, to continue the orchid breeding work pioneered in the Gardens. This includes creating new hybrids using Papilionanthe Miss Joaquim to commemorate significant milestones in Singapore’s history, such as the Papilionanthe Singapore Golden Jubilee and Papilionanthe Singapore Bicentennial.

NParks is engaging the orchid industry so that appropriate support can be provided. This included securing approximately 20ha of land for the orchid industry in 2018 in land-scarce Singapore, and offering grants and other forms of assistance.

In April 2023, we introduced a $7.5 million grant that orchid farms can tap to defray the cost of purchasing equipment and technology. We have made policy adjustments and refinements following our engagements.

For example, since 2018, land tenures for orchid farms have been offered on either 10+10-year leases, which are suitable for nurseries that plan to invest upfront and for the long term in their operations, or 3+3+3-year tenancies, for nurseries that prefer paying monthly rental fees. These are offered on a renewal basis to balance land productivity and farmers’ needs.

We implemented the tender-in-situ policy in 2019 to let existing businesses on land that is not affected by other developments continue operations at part of their present site till the tender is awarded.

As land is scarce in Singapore, it is important to ensure that land safeguarded for the orchid industry is optimised for orchid farming and production. NParks will continue to work closely with the orchid industry to understand and support its needs and improve productivity, as well as implement solutions where possible. We will also engage orchid hobbyists to better understand their needs.

Chong Whye Keet
Director, Industry Development
Centre for Urban Ecology and Greenery
National Parks Board