The Goa government is going to rope in a Poland-based company to develop a special variety of orchids which will have colours of the national flag.

The new variety will be called `Goa orchid’, Agriculture Minister Vijai Sardesai said on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters at Margao after inaugurating an agricultural technology exhibition, he said the new orchid should be ready by 2022, the end of the current government’s term.

The minister said most of the orchids grown in the state are Thai varieties, but the state should have its own distinct variety of this exotic flower.

Sardesai also said the government is finalising an MoU with an Israeli company to set up a Centre of Excellence to promote organic farming in the state.

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