Jorhat hosts national workshop on "Lac Insect Conservation"

North East India is one of the major producers of the Lac insect in our country. In order to revive Lac cultivation in India, a two-day National Workshop on "Lac Insect Conservation" was held at Department of Entomology, Assam Agriculture University, Jorhat, recently.

According to Dr. K.K. Sharma, Director, Indian Institute of Natural Resins and Gums, Ranchi, the north east alone cultivates 150 tons of Lac insect annually. But the national production rate has been declined tremendously since many years and cultivation has been restricted to the eastern part of the country.

The basic aim and objective is to how to conserve Lac and re-introduce Lac in areas where they were once cultivated. The participating scientists also discussed how they can conserve, utilise and maintain forests through Lac cultivation.

The workshop was inaugurated by Kamal Malla Bajarbaruah, Vice-Chancellor, Assam Agriculture University, Jorhat.

There are only nine Lac insect research institutes in India, namely in Jammu and Kashmir, Ranchi, Telangana, Kerala, CAU Manipur, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Assam.

Scientists from these nine institutes and students from AAU, Jorhat participated in the workshop.