Gorakhpur may have UP's first silk research centre

20 Jun '17

3 min read

Gorakhpur may house Uttar Pradesh’s first regional silk research centre. The state is seeking to increase its share in the national production of silk and aiming to meet the demands of its weaver community. Despite good quality cocoons, the state’s share in production at the national level is barely three per cent, at around 270 metric tonnes.

Central Silk Board Chairman K M Hanumantharayappa said an acre of mulberry sericulture has a potential to generate a gross income of more than Rs one lakh per year, which is higher than the returns from most agricultural crops, according to a news agency report.

“Our endeavour is to take this to at least 15-20 per cent. Regional silk research centre will be established in Gorakhpur. This will be the first of its kind in UP,” Hanumantharayappa said in the report. Women in rural areas should be trained in sericulture, he said.

“Besides, establishment of cocoon market is a must. For the want of an organised marketing support, the state’s farmers sell their cocoon to West Bengal and Karnataka at low prices,” he said. For meeting the demand of domestic weaving clusters such as Varanasi, quality silk production should be increased, he said.

UP has better water supply compared to states like Karnataka, he said. “However, awareness level among the farmers is low, the market is relatively small and the size of farm land holding is also smaller compared to other states,” he said.

Krishi melas are being organised on a large scale in order to popularise sericulture in rural areas of the state, he said. “Sericulture will definitely help farmers augment their income. Till now, I have not heard that a farmer engaged in sericulture has committed suicide,” he said.

Hanumantharayappa also stressed on the need for Multi-end Reeling Machines (MRM) and said the government would make efforts to provide these machines to entrepreneurs at a subsidised rate after imparting them proper training. “There are 170 government silk farms in the state and a proposal has been sent to the state government for installing the automatic reeling machines. Superior yarn produced thereon will replace the imported yarn. We are planning to arrange awareness visits to such machines,” he said.

“Tasar culture is a subsidiary occupation of the tribals living in south UP,” he said. Chandauli, Sonbhadra, Lalitpur and Fatehpur are the major districts identified for tropical Tasar. “Eri culture is practised in Kanpur, Kanpur Dehat, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Chitrakoot, Banda and Fatehpur districts. There is a vast potential in this sector,” he added. (SV)

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