Central Silk Board (CSB), the apex body of the Indian silk sector, has chalked out plans to ensure adequate availability of silkworm seeds for sericulture farmers in the country in a bid to achieve the silk production target set for 11th Plan period.
Currently, India produces around 17,000 to 18,000 tonne of silk while imports around 8,000 tonne of silk from China to meet the demand that stands at around 26,000 tonne.
In a bid to reduce imports from China, the CSB has set a target to increase the annual silk production to 23,000 tonne of mulberry raw silk by the end of 11th Plan, said M Sathiyavathy, member secretary of CSB. Of the total targeted production, she said the CSB aims to achieve an annual production of 5,000 tonne of bivoltine silk.
To achieve the set target, the CSB has geared up to increase the silkworm seed production to 32.63 crore silkworm seeds against the current production of 28.40 crore, an official attached to National Silkworm Seed Organisation (NSSO) said.
Currently, 74% of the total seed production comes from the licenced seed producers (LSPs) in the private sector while state departments of sericulture and National Silkworm Seed Organisation under CSB contribute 15.4% and 10.6%, respectively.
As its first step to fine-tune the seed sector, CSB organised a workshop-cum-session recently on ‘quality silkworm seed production in private sector’ wherein, LSPs, adopted seed rearers and representatives of sericulture departments in three major silk producing states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh participated.
The session chaired by MM Khazi, additional director of sericulture in Karnataka, recommended the government that there should be uniformity in price of seed cocoons as well as seed. A committee comprising LSPs, seed cocoon growers, officials of department of sericulture and CSB shall be constituted to resolve the price issue. Other recommendations include compensation to seed farmers against losses due to natural calamities, initiative for large-scale double hybrid production and to focus on developing season specific races.
H Hanumanthappa, chairman of CSB said that LSPs should produce quality seeds and all assistance, including support for infrastructure modernisation, will be provided by the government. He said, ?Capacity utilisation in the state government grainages should be looked into, and during the 11th Plan, Mysore seed area would be further strengthened.?