Even as India is on course to reaching its target of producing 50,000 tonnes of raw silk every year by 2030, Central Silk Board (CSB) has begun laying emphasis on the byproducts of the sericulture industry.
Speaking to The Hindu during a recent visit to Central Sericulture Research and Training Institute (CSRTI) in Mysuru for the launch of radio series in association with All India Radio (AIR) to mark the platinum jubilee celebrations of CSB, its member-secretary and Chief Executive Officer P. Sivakumar not only expressed confidence of Indian sericulture industry surpassing raw silk production of China by 2030 and becoming top silk producing country in the world, but also emphasised the need for Indian sericulture industry to start focusing more on the byproducts.
“When the CSB Act was passed in 1948 and the Board was established in 1949, raw silk production in the country was only 1,100 tonnes. Now, 75 years later, the country’s raw silk production had reached 36,500 tonnes as per the 2022-23 figures. Our target is to reach 50,000 tonnes by 2030 and we will reach the goal and become the world’s no. 1 country,” he said.
China, which is presently the world leader in silk production, had witnessed its production decline from around 2 lakh tonnes a few years ago to barely 50,000 tonnes at present.
Mr. Sivakumar likened the decline in silk production in China to a similar trend witnessed in other parts of the globe during different eras. After European countries migrated to other businesses due to culture of urbanization, Japan and China also followed suit. Many countries are now concentrating more on byproducts, he said.
He said the oil extracted from silkworm pupae is rich in Omega 3 while sericin extracted from reeled water has applications in cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry. Silkworm pupae is also used as feed by the poultry and fish industry. Sericulture will become even more remunerative if the farmers pay more attention to by-products, Mr. Sivakumar said.
He said there was a huge scope for marketing mulberry juice. Around 2.6 lakh hectares of land across the country was under mulberry cultivation, but no efforts had been made in the direction of marketing mulberry juice, he lamented.
While China had shifted its gaze towards sericulture byproducts, a small country like Cuba, which has an annual raw silk production of no more than 2,000 tonnes, was among the prime countries in the world when it comes to Omega 3, sericin and mulberry juice, he said.
Mr Sivakumar also pointed out that China was buying silk waste including cut cocoons from India before processing the same and exporting superior quality silk products. However, a strict vigil is maintained to ensure that good quality silk is not exported to China, he added.
The member secretary of CSB ruled out the possibility of a decline in silk production in India. “Consumption of silk in India is high. Even after producing more than 36,500 metric tonnes, we are importing silk from foreign countries”, he said adding that the requirement of silk in the country was about 40,000 metric tonnes.
Emphasising the importance of producing superior quality silk in India, he said efforts should be made to not only increase the production high quality bivoltine cocoons, but also improvement in the reeling techniques. “Out of the 36,500 tonnes of silk produced, the silk from bivoltine cocoons accounts for barely 7,000 tonnes. We have to cross 10,000 tonnes of bivoltine silk by 2030”, he said.
Contending that India was not in a position to export much as the domestic demand for silk products was high, he said the country can promote export of its silk products when there is a surplus.
Sericulture in India, Mr. Sivakumar said, had a huge potential. While Tamil Nadu was also planning to expand the area under mulberry cultivation, Andhra Pradesh government recently asset aside 2,500 acres of land for sericulture in the State. However, Karnataka remained the numero uno State in India accounting for as much as 60% of mulberry silk production in the country.
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