The State government has announced a support price for cocoon to help sericulture farmers reeling under the impact of a crash in prices because of COVID-19 in the past few months.
A Government Order dated August 13 announced a support price of ₹30 for every kilogram of crossbreed cocoon and ₹50 for every kg of superior bivoltine cocoon variety. The support price will be given to sericulture farmers over and above the market price commanded, said Munshi Basaiah, Deputy Director of Sericulture, Ramanagaram.
The support price is expected to cushion the accumulated losses suffered by sericulture farmers because of the downward spiral of cocoon prices since March-April this year. The support price intervention comes after sericulture farmers opposed the protection price announced by the government last month.
Under the protection price policy, the government had formulated guidelines based on the Basavaraj Committee report to grade cocoon on the basis of their quality and fixed a particular price for each grade variety-wise. If the market price fell below the price fixed by the government, a protection price up to a maximum of ₹50 per kg was to be given to the farmer.
But the farmers were opposed to the protection price policy, contending that it was unfair to them, and resisted its implementation. They demanded the support price model, which has now been accepted by the government, according to N.Y. Chigari, CEO of Koppa Sericulture Farmers’ Producer Company Ltd., Maddur, a Government of India enterprise.
The government intervention is expected to come with retrospective effect from April 2020. The government has estimated an expenditure of ₹45 crore towards support price for the period between April and September 2020 and has released ₹10 crore for the purpose.
Though the announcement of support price has been accepted by the farmers, the president of Ramanagaram Sericulture Farmers’ Welfare Association, Gautham Gowda, said they had sought a support price of ₹150 for every kg of crossbreed and ₹200 for every kg of bivoltine.
Cocoon prices went on a downward spiral from March-April this year with the COVID-19 pandemic gripping the world. The average price, which was between ₹450 and ₹480 for every kg of crossbreed cocoon and between ₹550 and ₹600 for every kg of bivoltine during January and February, plummeted to less than ₹200 from March-April.
However, Sericulture Department officials said the support price announcement has come at a time when cocoon prices have witnessed a steady increase because of a rise in demand for raw silk.
