With sericulture farmers reeling under distress, Sericulture Commissioner G. Satish on Sunday visited the Sidlaghatta cocoon market, the largest in Asia, and held discussions with the farmers as well as silk reelers.
On an average, about 70 tonnes of cocoon trading takes place every day at Sidlaghatta cocoon market.
Besides the cut in import duty, the earthquake in Nepal has aggravated the situation as cocoon buyers in that country have suspended import temporarily. Mr. Sathish told the sericulture farmers that a delegation of MPs from Karnataka had recently met Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitly and explained the plight of sericulture farmers.
The Union government had responded positively to the appeals of the State government and it was hoped that the problem would be solved soon, he said.
A delegation of State MPs recently apprised Union Finance Minister about the problems faced by sericulture farmers, he says
