Rising prices bring smiles to silkworm rearers in Karnataka
CHITRADURGA: While poultry farmers have been dealt a severe blow due to the outbreak of the dreadful COVID-19, sericulturists are having a windfall with prices of silkworm cocoons shooting up. The rise in prices is due to the decrease in silk import from China. The bivoltine cocoon, which was selling for anywhere between Rs 425 and Rs 500, is now being sold at Rs 616-625 per kg.
The cross-breed cocoons, which were trading at Rs 300-325, is selling at Rs 500-575 per kg. This has benefited farmers from Chitradurga, Haveri, Kolar, Tumakuru, Bengaluru Rural, Ramanagara, Chamarajnagar and other parts.
The prices of cocoons are mainly decided by silk reelers, who have now increased the price due to the absence of Chinese silk at the Ramanagara Cocoon Market. Sources said that the outbreak of the coronavirus has resulted in a complete stop of raw silk import from China, leading to increased prices for the cocoons grown locally. Farmers are now increasing the rearing of silkworms to capitalise on the current situation, the sources said.
Silkworms are reared on approximately 189 hectares in Chitradurga district, mainly in Molakalmuru, Chitradurga, Challakere and Hiriyur taluks. Speaking to TNSE, Deputy Director of the Sericulture Department, Dr Y K Balakrishna, said, “As there is a decrease in the supply of silk from China, the demand for local cocoons has increased. The price of cocoons that stood at Rs 425-490 per kg for last one year, is now sold at Rs 615-625 per kg and it is still rising every day.”
Describing the present price as favourable for silkworm rearers, Balakrishna said that each acre of mulberry farm can produce 150-180 kg of cocoons. Some farmers in Molakalmuru and Challakere are producing nearly 200 kg of cocoons per acre as they follow improvised techniques, he pointed out.
Venkatarama Reddy, a silk rearer who has been into sericulture for last five years, said he had never got such high prices. “In the last 15 days, the cocoon prices have been increasing steadily and now it has crossed Rs 600 per kg. I have earned nearly Rs 10 lakh by rearing silkworms on nine acres,” he said.