Board blueprint to lift Bi-voltine silk output

India faces 9,000 tonne raw silk shortfall

The current domestic demand for silk is 25,000 tonne but the production is only 16,000 tonne.

According to H Hanumanthappa, chairman, Central Silk Board, in the last three years (2001-04), silk production had come down from 18,000 tonne to 14,000 tonne owing to drought conditions in successive years in few key states.

Last year (2004-05) it revived to 16,000 tonne and with good monsoons the board has estimated a production of around 18,000 tonne for 2005-06, he added.

A special schemes is being initiated in all the mulberry growing regions in the country spread across states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir which together account for 92 per cent of country's total mulberry raw silk production.

These schemes for mulberry growers and silkworm rearers and reelers aim to make India self-reliant in silk by 2012, said Hanumanthappa.

In Phase I, CSB plans to boost the area under mulberry cutivation and popularise Bi-voltine silk production. The area under the mulberry crop has come down drastically in the lst few years from around 1.2 lakh hectares to around 79,000 hectares. However, there has been an increase in mulberry yield, he added.

Bi-voltine silk production accounts for less than 5 per cent of total silk output and amounted to 600 tonne in 2003-04. The rest of the silk is accounted for by mulberry silk. This has gone up to over 831 tonne in 2004-05. But this is not enough.

"We need to focus more on this segment for it gives quality, quantity and increases productivity," he said.