Silk farming calls for urgent Govt assistance

19 Feb '08

2 min read

Ganeshpur, a village in Bhandara district in Maharashtra is famous for the Kosa silk. (The word Kosa means cocoon in the local language). In this village silk has been produced and exported ever since 1871.

The Central Silk Board (CSB), Mysore has set about to help the Directorate of Sericulture (DOS) Maharashtra, in the production of export quality silk in the state.

Together both the bodies would pool in a total of Rs10 crore for sericulture on 250 acres of land with 250 farmers from the districts of Nagpur. The scheme has been concurred in accordance with the XIth five year plan to promote mulberry farming and silk production in the region.

While the CSB and Ministry of Textile will bear 50 percent of the cost required for the project, 25 percent will come from the State Government of Maharashtra and the remaining from farmers or entrepreneurs.

A meeting of the Maharashtra State Sericulture Co-ordination Committee will be held today at Amravati for finalizing a place for the setting up of a regional sericulture research center.

The catalytic development program (CDP) will be initiated in two phases. The pre-cocoon phase will involve mulberry cultivation, irrigation, rearing houses, supply of rearing equipment, disinfectants and chawki rearing centers. The second post-cocoon phase will have reeling, weaving and fabric-making which will involve entrepreneurs, NGOs or self help groups (SHGs) wanting to set up units.

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