MAYILADUTHURAI: Silk farmers in Mayiladuthurai are set to get good rates for their produce, after suffering loss for two years owing to the Covid-19 pandemic-induced lockdown. With signs of normalcy showing up, the farmers are now breathing easy.
"We generally get good rates for our cocoon lots every year. However, we could not get the expected rate during the last couple of years when demand fell owing to processing units shutting down," said G Aravind, a silk farmer from Kuthalam.
He and his father K Ganesan are recipients of prizes in the district for sericulture for the past three years.
According to the Sericulture department, there are over 600 silk farmers in eight central districts. Pudukkottai, Tiruchy and Perambalur have more farmers than Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai, Pudukkottai and Ariyalur.
S Rengapappa, an assistant director from the department in Tiruchy, said, "We are in the process of identifying and creating new silk farmers in Nagapattinam district after its bifurcation. We are creating awareness among aspiring entrepreneurs to choose sericulture and are conducting workshops for them."
Sericulture is the farming of silkworms to produce silk. A silkworm has a lifespan of six to eight weeks. Farmers buy silkworms from sellers in the first week and culture the worms under closed conditions for three weeks. They cultivate mulberry on a farm nearby to feed the worms with leaves. The worms reach pupa stage in the fifth week. Cocoons from pupa stage are auctioned at government centres in places like Dharmapuri, Salem, Tiruchy, and Pudukkottai. Cocoons contain silk fibres, which are extracted at silk reeling units and made into threads. These are used at weaving units to make garments.
M Rajarajan, a silk farmer from Mudithiruchampalli, said, "We culture silkworms five to six times a year. We need better rates at auctions than the previous year to compensate for our input expenditure which increases every year. We are hoping to get better rates as we move past the pandemic."
A silk farmer from Moongilthottam, V Akila, said the processing units faced challenges during the pandemic. "We were getting Rs 400 a kg of cocoon last year during the second wave. We are now getting about Rs 600 to Rs 800 for our cocoon. We feel more encouraged now and thus are culturing more."