Central Silk Board (CSB) has set a target to achieve 26,000 tonne of silk production per annum including 5,000 tonne of bivoltine in the 11th Plan. During 2007-08, CSB is targeting 2,500 tonne of bivoltine, Jayant Jayaswal, director (in-charge) for JICA project in CSB, said.
CSB will also carry out silk promotion programmes in Third World countries in association with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). JICA, which is involved in silk promotion activities in India for the past 16 years, is winding up all its programmes from August 2007 in the country. ?However, CSB and JICA will continue their partnership to create silk production base in 17 Third World countries. An agreement to this effect will be signed on August 3,? Jayant Jayaswal, director (in-charge) for JICA project in CSB, said.
The project -Third Country Tranining Programme (TCTP) – will be implemented in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Greece and African countries like Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia, Jayaswal said.
In fact, during JICA?s programme in India, Japan had dispatched 95 technical experts to train their Indian counterparts, while India also sent more than 90 trainees to Japan to get technical knowledge on the silk industry. ?Now, most of these experts in India will be involved in TCTP project to be implemented for five years starting from 2007 in Third World countries,? he said. JICA programmes have helped India to produce close to 1,100 tonne of bivoltine silk per year, Tomoyuki Fuji, resident representative of JICA in India, said. He also mentioned that the JICA project has been implemented through 3,700 farmers across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.