M Kanagaraj’s farm at Solavambalayam, Coimbatore, is strewn with mulberry plants. Walking across the fields, we find that the farmer is busy feeding the white-coloured silkworms some of the mulberry leaves. “These are silkworms on the eighth day. But it takes about 20 days for the cocoons to form; we then sell it in the market. A worm capable of laying a 100 eggs, eats about four and a half tonnes of mulberry leaves in its lifetime,” says the 45-year-old as he shows us around his sericulture farm. Having recently won ‘The Best Farmer award’, he was honoured by the district collector with Rs 25,000.
The sericulture business, which was his in-laws’ field of expertise at Jallipatti, soon translated into his own after his marriage in 2006. “At first, I didn’t know much about sericulture; all that I’ve learnt about silk-farming has been from in-laws. Initially, I planted mulberry plants in just half an acre on my farm. Now, I’ve extended it to one acre. Mulberry leaves are essential for sericulture,” he said. For the silk moth larvae, Kanagaraj sources them from a silkworm breeding centre in Kothamangalam. “We get seven-day-old larvae. After the seventh day, they shed their skin to make way for growth, called moulting. The moulted silkworms are placed in mounted shelves that are filled with mulberry leaves. One square foot of space can be home to a maximum of 40 silkworms.
Overpopulation in the space will affect the yield,” he says. The worms then spin cocoons around them in two to three days. “We sell the cocoons at the sericulture department in Coimbatore after a quality check. It takes about 20 to 22 days for the larvae to develop into a cocoon. We can do around ten batches a year and generate around `50,000 a month,” he says, with knowledge from over 13 years of experience.
Recommended for the award by the Sericulture Department, Kanagaraj’s use of non-chemical fertilisers and 95 per cent yield in the year 2019-2020 guaranteed him the prize. “I often attend meetings conducted by the department to improve on my farming techniques. Not only do I learn it for my farm but I also insist on teaching other farmers at the village as well. I’ve helped a few people to start sericulture at their farms, giving them tips and techniques, free of cost. I also regularly visit their farms in the evening. I want to encourage many more people to get into farming,” he explains.
Kanagaraj adds that the award motivates him to be better and spread his knowledge of the techniques of farming. “Overpopulation and low-quality mulberry leaves are the reasons for low yield in sericulture. Selection of good larvae, mulberry leaves, and not over-populating the worms in shelves are essential. So, my next step is to educate all the farmers in the village about sericulture and insist that they improve on their farming skills,” he concludes.