JICA extends aid to popularise bivoltine silk production

Our Commodities Bureau in Bangalore

JAPAN International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has decided to extend its technical assistance programme to popularise bivoltine silk production in India for another five years. The third phase of promotion of popularising the practical bivoltine sericulture technology (PPPBST) project under the JICA assistance will commence next year. The second phase of the project was scheduled to end in April 2002.

The Japanese assisted programme has helped in improving bivoltine silk yield to 16,000 MTPA in 2000 from a meagre 900 MTPA in 1950s. The third phase of the programme envisages taking the production to 25,000 MTPA by 2007.

The Japanese ambassador in India, Hiroshi Hirabayashi, announced this in Mysore during the inauguration of a Training Centre at Central Sericulture Research & Training Institute (CSRTI) set up with assistance from JICA. Fresh investments of Rs 30 crore to Rs 40 crore will be made for development of sericulture in the country, he added. The project launched in early 1990s was to improve bivoltine sericulture technologies in the country. The project was extended upto 2002 with the objective of transferring the technologies developed in the labs to the field through extension programmes. The new technology has improved the yield, quality and doubled the returns of the 114 farmers in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu who were initiated into the programme on an experimental basis. The third phase of the project envisages extending the technology to the remaining states in the country.

Though consumption of silk in the country is going up every year, a majority of silk produced in India is the low quality multivoltine silkworm not suitable for warp yarn of silk cloth. Despite being the second largest producer of silk, next only to China, India imports nearly 5,000 MTPA of bivoltine silk to meet the demands of the industry.

Globally there is a declining trend in the silk production with Japan withdrawing from silk production and China cutting down production due to high costs.