The State government’s move to merge Sericulture Department with Agriculture Department has drawn flak from sericulture farmers’ bodies and experts from the sericulture industry in Karnataka.
Since long, Karnataka has been maintaining the country’s numero uno position in sericulture by accounting for more than 60% of its raw silk production, thanks to the hand-holding by Sericulture Department’s extension programme, its technical assistance to the farmers as well as the marketing set up it closely monitors. The proposed merger of the Sericulture Department with Agriculture Department is a threat to the future of thousands of families in Karnataka who are dependent on sericulture, feared Mullur Srinivas, convenor of the Karnataka State Sericulture Farmers’ Protection Forum.
Withdraw decision
The Forum has urged the State government to not only withdraw its Cabinet Sub Committee’s recent decision to merge the Sericulture Department with Agriculture, but also drop its proposal to scrap more than 2,000 posts in the Department.
Lending voice to the Karnataka State Sericulture Farmers’ Protection Forum is retired Deputy Director of Sericulture N.Y. Chigari, who said that that unlike agriculture, the production of silkworm cocoons involves a very “sensitive” chain of activities, starting from production of disease-free laying of eggs and cultivation of mulberry plant through the rearing of the silkworm cocoons in suitable atmospheric conditions amid fluctuating climate.
“Technical advice is necessary for sericulure farmers to ensure that quality as well as quantity is not compromised while rearing sillkworm cocoons,” said Mr. Chigari, who is also the pesident of Retired Sericulture Department Employees Association. He attributed Karnataka’s top position in raw silk production in the country to the existence of an exclusive Sericulture Department since 1914 to provide not only technical services to the farmers, but also creating and monitoring a market for the cocoons they produced.
Export-oriented
Also, Mr. Chigari sought to remind the government that silk was an export-oriented product and cautioned against trifling with production of a commodity that fetches valuable foreign exchange.
He said the Silk Association of India comprising farmers, reelers, weavers, licensed seed producers, retired scientists from Central Silk Board (CSB) as well as retired bureaucrats, will be presenting a representation in the regard to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Minister for Sericulture Narayana Gowda at the national conference it was organising in Bengaluru on “Sericulture in India: Present Status and Future Challenges” on October 20.
Karnataka Silk Reelers Association president Muheeb Pasha too opposed the proposed merger. In the absence of Sericulture Department, he feared that private silkworm cocoon markets will mushroom, affecting the transparency that is ensured in the government silkworm cocoon markets, which is monitored by the officials of the department.
1.4 lakh families
Giving a snapshot of sericulture industry in Karnataka, Mr. Mullur Srinivas said around 1.4 lakh families in the State were involved in production of more than ₹ 3,000 crore worth of silkworm cocoons per annum, which provides year-long employment to thousands of reelers and weavers.
During 2021-22, Mr. Srinivas said 1.39 lakh families were involved in producing silkworm cocoons while mulberry was cultivated on 1.08 lakh hectares of land and silkworm cocoons weighing around 79,462 metric tonnes of cocoons were produced. A total of 11,191 tonnes of raw silk was produced during the year, he said.
