Tamil Nadu has succeeded in improving its silk productivity, but Karnataka, India?s silk capital, still remains lucrative for sericulture sector despite witnessing steep fall in production in recent years.
Karnataka?s share declined to 46% in 2006-07 from 65% 10 years ago while Tamil Nadu has gained a sizeable share of the country?s total silk output. Silk production in Karnataka in 2006-07 stood at 8,205 tonne against the country?s total output of 18,450 tonne while Tamil Nadu increased its output to 1,125 tonne in 2006-07 from 739 tonne in the previous year. Interestingly Tamil Nadu has been chasing Karnataka closely in bivoltine silk production. Karnataka produced 358 tonne of bivoltine silk followed by Tamil Nadu at 286 tonne.
Despite its ongoing achievements in the silk industry, Tamil Nadu is still lagging behind Karnataka in generating revenue to the farmers. According to a study conducted by Central Sericulture Research and Training Institute and National Silkworm Seed Organisation, cocoon production on one acre in large scale farms in Karnataka with an investment of Rs 65,555 has fetched a net profit of Rs 40,830. But cocoon production on one acre in Tamil Nadu with an investment of Rs 64,167 fetched a net profit of only 30,564, almost 25% lesser than the profit made in Karnataka.