Our Bureau

Kochi , Sept. 30

THE AVT Biotechnology Division has established a Garden Centre - Gardenia - here as a one-stop shop for the gardening needs of households.

The centre, which will be operational from October 2 to cater to the needs of garden enthusiasts, will be stocked with exotic flowering plants such as orchids, anthuriums, gerbera, philaenopsis and fruit plants such as banana.

Mr M.K. Koshy, Chief Executive Officer of the AVT Group, said the company would source the best quality fruit, flowering and foliage plants from various parts of the country so as to provide the best service to customers. Aquarium plants will also be made available to aquarium enthusiasts, he said.

Besides gardening inputs, he said the centre would provide technical information to customers to help them get the best results from their garden. Information regarding plants and their requirements, garden inputs such as plant health products will be made available to customers.

According to Mr Koshy, the A.V. Thomas Group are the pioneers in commercial plant tissue culture business India since 1984. The company has the capacity to produce 7.5 million plants per annum from two laboratories situated in Kochi.

Tissue culture plants produced at AVT Biotechnology are being exported to countries such as Columbia, Ecuador, USA, Germany, and Holland. Last year, the division had fetched an export turnover of Rs 5 crore, he said.

AVT has established a modern green house at its Kinfra Park here to acclimatise and grow various ornamental plants.

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