BHUBANESWAR: From 700 castor-based Eri silk farming in five districts, the state government has expanded its ‘Karuna Silk’ (vegan or cruelty-free silk) project to 2,000 silk farmers this year. The project is now being taken up in 12 districts.
The project, a gentle, non-violent method of making silk from Eri silkworms, was piloted in October last year in five districts - Keonjhar, Athagarh, Khurda, Nayagarh and Sundargarh. The department procured 30,000 Eri silk eggs from the Eri Silkworm Seed Production Centre, Hosur and roped in 700 farmers in the districts, primarily women. While the target was to grow 50 quintal cocoons with worms, the five districts produced 82 quintals. From the stock, 12.8 quintal empty cocoons were generated and spun to produce the yarn.
Around 40 per cent of yarn was recovered from the total stock. The first batch of yarn generated was used this year to weave the Geeta Govinda Khandua Pata for Lord Jagannath and His divine siblings at the Shree Jagannath temple in Puri.
Officials said it follows a process under which silkworms grow and feed on castor leaves for 18 to 20 days till they reach their final size. The worms then start to create their cocoon which takes 10 days. They slowly transform into moths and once they fly out of the cocoons, the process of making silk begins.
Previously, in order to remove the thread from the cocoons produced by Eri Worm Farming, they had to be boiled in hot water, thereby killing the living insects that were dormant in the cocoons. Considering the success of the pilot project, the department has planned to increase the production of Karuna Silk by involving more farmers in the next year.
In another development, officials from the Institute of Chemical Technology had recently met the department director Shovan Krishna Sahu evincing interest in setting up a dedicated dye processing unit for catering to textiles, handlooms and Karuna Silk products.