MYSORE,: With the Indian government committing to the World Health Organisation (WHO) to reduce tobacco cultivation by 50 per cent by 2020, the Sericulture Department plans to turn attention to silk production in the areas which primarily cultivate tobacco.
The department has also targeted upstaging China in silk production with an increased focus in areas suitable for tobacco cultivation.
The sericulture industry, which recorded an average price of Rs over 180 per kilo of cocoon in the past two years, has earned Rs 245 per kilo of cocoon in the past six months.
It now targets raising the number of families involved in silk production by 30 per cent in a couple of years.
In Karnataka, the cultivation of silk, which is considered the state’s favourite commercial crop, has been hit by urbanisation and industrialisation. However, stable prices, inputs and subsidy have helped pick up silk cultivation in the last couple of months in parts of Kolar, Bangalore Rural and areas are keen to promote it in Chamarajanagar and Mysore.
Mysore, where over 90 per cent of the state’s tobacco is cultivated, has also recorded a better average selling price of Rs 100 per kilo of tobacco in the past two years.
Increasing demand for cocoons, fall in supply of high quality cocoon from China, technical inputs, focus on research activities, chawki rearing centres, training programmes and modern methods of sericulture rearing have attracted families to sericulture in tobacco- growing areas.
Keen to seek the assistance of the Central Sericulture Research and Training Institute, Mysore to boost sericulture in Karnataka, the state government also plans to form a Sericulture Advisory Committee comprising officials, farmers, silk rearers, weavers and experts. The government also wants the research institute and its experts to encourage standardisation of sericulture production in Hunsur, Periyapatna and other regions.
Sericulture commissioner P Manivannan, who visited CSRTI and held talks with scientists, told Express that the government has plans to promote sericulture in a big way.
"Farmers are keen to be a part of mulberry plantation programmes under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme," he added. Programmes to educate farmers on advanced technology, research and government benefits will be launched.
