IMPHAL, August 31: The state is a genetic house for plants, animals and microbial resources and lies inside the Indo-Myanmar region hotspot which has been already included amongst the ten hotspot biodiversity rich zones amongst the 34 biodiversity hotspots of the world, Dr S Natesh consultant advisor said today.
He was addressing a group of media persons at the office of the Institute of Bioresearches and Sustainable Development (IBSD).
The region is a centre of gene diversity of several crops and a secondary centre for several economically important plants and animal species, he said.
Though the people of the region are lucky to have been born in such a region, the people due to lack of awareness have failed to extract, utilize and take benefit of the bio-diversity of the region.
The Institute of Bioresearches and Sustainable Development in the state was established under the department of Biotechnology, under the Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India after realizing the importance of rich biodiversity and unique bio-resources of the state and the surrounding areas, and with the mission to develop and encourage sustainable utilization of the bio-resources of the region through biotechnological interventions for socio-economic growth, he said.
Dr Narayan Chandra Talukdar, Scientist Microbial Resources who is also the Head of the Department, IBSD said the institution has two hectares of land used for farming “Cur cumin”, a garlic variety.
The IBDS works on plants, animals, medicinal plants, microbes and aquatic, he said. There are many insects which are edible, he said and continued that years back, insects were deemed repulsive to be consumed but nowadays, researchers have found that most of the insects which are edible are very rich in proteins, he said.