Report On The Indian Sericulture & Silk Industry

Report On The Indian Sericulture & Silk Industry

 

 

 

Hunasehalli Rudranna Gowda

Central Silk Board Ministry

Of Textiles Govt of India

rudresh.csb@nic.in  

gowdarudranna@gmail.com

 

Silk is the most elegant textile in the world with unparalleled grandeur, natural sheen,

and high absorbance, light weight, soft touch and high durability and known as the “Queen of Textiles” the world over. On the other hand, itstands for livelihood opportunity for millions owing to high employment oriented, low capital intensive and remunerative nature of its production. The very nature of this industry with its rural based on-farm and off-farm activities and enormous employment generation potential has attracted the attention of the planners and policy makers to recognize the industry among one of the most appropriate avenues for socio-economic development of a largely agrarian economy like India.

 

Silk has been intermingled with the life and culture of the Indians. India has a rich and

complex history in silk production and its silk trade dates back to 15th century. Sericulture

industry provides employment to approximately 8 million persons in rural and semi-urban

areas in India. Of these, a sizeable number of workers belong to the economically weaker

sections of society, including women. India’s traditional and culture bound domestic

market and an amazing diversity of silk garments that reflect geographic specificity have

helped the country to achieve a leading position in silk industry. India has the unique

distinction of being the only country producing all the five known commercial silks,

namely, mulberry, tropical tasar, oak tasar, eri and muga,

Though India is one of the largest global producers of raw silk, there is a wide demand-supply gap existing in the silk industry in India, as the growth rate in domestic production is not commensurate with the increasing demand for the silk.  India is the largest consumer of the raw silk in the world with the annual requirement spanning around 32,000 MT of raw silk, of which 28,700 MT (90%) is domestically produced and the remaining 3,500 MT (10%) is imported primarily from China.

The raw silk production in the country has achieved a good growth recently. The raw silk production increased significantly during last two years to reach the all-time high level of 28710 MT during 2014-15 from 20,410 MT during 2010-11 registering an increase of 40.7%. Sericulture is regarded as an important tool for the economic development of the country because of its rural based on-farm and off-farm activities and enormous employment and income generation potential. Sericulture industry provides employment to approximately 7.85 million persons in rural and semi-urban areas in India.

Mandate of CSB:

l   Promoting the development of Silk Industry by such measures as it thinks fit.

l   To create greater opportunities for gainful employment and improved levels of income in sericulture through spread of scientific sericulture practices

l   Undertaking, assisting or encouraging scientific, technological and economic research.

l   Devising means for improved methods of mulberry cultivation, silkworm rearing ,developing and distribution of healthy silkworm seeds, improved methods of silk reeling and spinning of the cocoons and silk-waste, improving the quality and production of raw silk, if necessary by making it compulsory, for all the raw silk to be marketed ,only after the same has been tested and graded in properly quipped raw Silk Testing and Conditioning Houses.

l   Improving the marketing of raw silk & the collection of statistics.

l   To advise the Central Government on all matters relating to the development of silk industry including import and export of raw silk.

l   To prepare and furnish such other reports relating to the silk industry as may be required by the Central Government from time to time.

 

Business Opportunities in Indian Sericulture Sector

Silk production involves a long chain of high employment oriented, less capital intensive and high remunerative activities. As silk is a long chain industry involving different sectors from silkworm seed production to fabric and garment production, a lot of entrepreneurial opportunities such as mulberry sapling production, silkworm seed production, commercial chawki rearing, disinfection services, production of sericultural implements, multiplication of bio-control agents for the control of mulberry and silkworm pests etc., are available for different kinds of people in various fields of sericulture. The list of various business opportunities available in sericulture is given in the following Table. Different business opportunities in sericulture support the farmers, women, rural unemployed youths and weaker section of the society to earn additional income and also prop up sericulture development in the country.

Table: List of   business opportunities available in sericulture

#	Business Opportunities	Details/Scope/Utility
I	Pre-cocoon Activities
1.	Kissan Nursery	Multiplication of improved mulberry varieties for new plantation.
2.	Production of bio-fertilizers	Application to mulberry garden - saves money and improves soil fertility.
3.	Production of compost / Vermi -compost	Application to mulberry garden - rich in micro-nutrients and improves soil fertility.
4.	Production of disinfectant chemicals	Used in silkworm rearing to protect silkworms from disease causing organisms.
5.	Production of bio-control agents	To protect mulberry as well as silkworm crops from natural enemies.
6.	Production of garden and rearing equipments, tools and  mountages	For use in silkworm cocoon crop. Saves labour - brings in mechanization in sericulture.
7.	Preparation of garlands, flowers and greeting cards from waste cocoons	Value addition and commercial value.
8.	Chawki rearing	Supply of chawki worms to farmers
9	Silkworm rearing	Serves as a raw material for producing silk
10	Pupa oil/powder extraction	Used in detergents and animal feeds manufacturing
11	Mulberry health drink	Health drink from mulberry
12	Silkworm pupal food	By-product utilization
13	Sericin and fibroin extraction	Protein extraction for industrial use
II	Post-cocoon Activities
1.	Reeling	Process of extracting raw silk thread from cocoons.
2.	Twisting	For strengthening the raw silk yarn & to make it suitable for weaving.
3.	Weaving	Process of manufacturing fabric.
4.	Printing	Printed Design making on plain fabric.
5.	Dyeing	Process of colouring the yarn/cloth.
6.	Computer Aided Textile Designing (CATD)	Production of simulated designs, which can be weaved.
III	Services
1.	Disinfection of rearing houses	On rental /contract basis
2	Sericulture Resource Centre (SRC)	Providing inputs on improved Technology Packages in Sericulture
3.	Renting out of the implements and mountages	As most of them are used for a specific time during the crop, most of the farmers do not own them.
4.	Cocoon collection and transportation to the market	As cocoon markets are situated far away from production points, transport facilities can be arranged for timely marketing of cocoons
5.	Distribution of chawki (young age) worms	Transportation of chawki worms from Commercial Chawki Rearing Centres to the farmers’ place.
6.	Master Reeler/Weaver/ Dyer services	To upgrade the skill of the workers involved in the activates

 

Bivoltine Sericulture In India.

The efforts made by Government of India  to develop Bivoltine sericulture in India through different projects programmes  like NSP/JICA  enable CSB  to develop  the suitable Mulberry varieties, package of practices, silkworm breeds like  CSR2 x CSR4, CSR4 x CSR5,  CSR18 x CSR19 appropriate Rearing methodology,  disease management, improved reeling technologies  suitable for the tropical climate of peninsular India.. These technologies were large scale demonstrated with 3700 farmers and 298 reelers in the Southern States and as a result, the bivoltine silk production in the country has increased significantly. The main focus on mulberry sector would be to enhance the bivoltine silk (3A grade and above) production from the current production level of 1685 MT to 5000 MT with an ambitious increase of 197% (Plan to Plan). To achieve this challenging task, the XII Plan proposes for a strategic shift in the promotion of bivoltine sericulture in the areas of research, extension, seed production, cocoon production practices, marketing, credit facilitation, policy options and increased participation of stakeholders in decision making areas.  

Keeping the extension system formulated in the project as base, Central Silk Board in its XIIth Plan (2012-17) formulated about 179 clusters all over India.

 

SILKS OF INDIA

The Brocades of Banaras

 

Situated on the banks of the holy river Ganges, Varanasi is famous for its finest silk sarees and brocades. These sarees are known for rich and intricately woven motifs of leaf, flowers, fruits, birds, etc. on a soft colour background. They are enriched with intricate borders and heavily decorated pallus. The centre is also known for its gauzi silver and gold tissues, which are ultra light in weight and delicate. The kinkab of Banaras is legendary. It is a glittering weave of gold and silver threads. The pure silk with a touch of gold is called bafta and the finely woven brocade of variegated silk is known as Amru.

 The tricks of tie and dye

 

The resist dyeing techniques has been practiced in India since centuries. There are two distinct traditions in this technique. The patola or ikat technique involves the dyeing of the tie-resist yarn. The bandhej or bandhini involves the dyeing of the fabric.

The ikats of Orissa

The tie and dye weaves of Orissa known as ikats employ the yarn resist method for both warp and weft with diffused effect. But the overall pattern is boldly articulated as in confident strikes of a brush. Both mulberry and tasar silks are used in the weaving of these ikats.

The Patolas of Gujarat

 

The patolas are known for their precision subtlety and beauty. Here, both warp and weft are dyed by dye resist method in a range of five or six traditional colours like red, indigo, blue, emerald green, black or yellow. The exact and highly skilled process ensures that when the fabric is woven, the design will appear precisely and create a magnificently coloured and figured ground of great richness and beauty with birds, flowers, animals, dancers, etc. in a geometrically stylized perfection.

The ballet of bandhej

In bandhej or bandhini, the finely woven fabric is knotted tightly and dyed to achieve a distinct design. The sarees, odhnis (veils) and turbans of these regions are a medley of brilliant colours. The bandhini of Kutch is unmatched for their fineness of the minutely tied knots, the magnificence of the colours and the perfect designs.

The Tanchois of Gujarat

The tanchoi brocade was named after the three Parsi brothers called choi who learnt this art in China and introduced it to Surat. The choi brocade is usually a dark satin weave, purple or dark red in ground colour, embellished with motifs of flowers, creepers, birds all over design.

The temple silks of the South

South India is the leading silk producing area of the country also known for its famous silk weaving enclaves like Kancheepuram, Dharmavaram, Arni, etc.  While the temple towns like Kancheepuram are renowned for their magnificent heavy silk sarees of bright colours with silver or gold zari works, the centers like Bangalore and Mysore are known for their excellent printed silks.

The traditional handloom silks always score over the powerloom silks in the richness of their textures and designs, in their individuality, character and classic beauty. Handloom weaving remains a symbol of versatility and creativity of living craft. Today, Indian silks, especially the handloom products, remain the most beautiful and cherished the world over.

 

Capacity Building & Training in CSB

CSB is supporting the silk industry through various programmes such as Catalytic Development Programme (CDP), Integrated Development for Silk Industry, Integrated Skill Development Scheme (ISDS) for the Textiles and Apparel Sector etc., by providing technical guidance, training for skill and entrepreneurship development and financial support to various stakeholders, through which many start-ups and new enterprises are promoted in the country.

Support provided by CSB to the farmers and entrepreneurs in establishment of various business activities in sericulture industry would not only help for increasing the silk production in the country but also provide employment and income generating opportunities in the rural and semi-urban areas.

The R&D institutions of CSB, spread across the country, covering all activities on the silk

value-chain pertaining to all the four silk sub-sectors, are intensively involved in training,

skill seeding and skill enhancement on a sustainable basis. From the year 2015-16 onwards, CSB’s capacity building and training initiatives have been restructured under the following five heads to be implemented and monitored by the Capacity Building & Training Division:

 

(i) Skill Training & Enterprise Development Programme (STEP):

Under this category a variety of short-term training modules focusing on

Entrepreneurship development, In-house and industry Resource Development,

Specialized Overseas Training, popularization of sericulture technologies, lab to land

technology demonstration programmes, training impact assessment surveys etc have

been planned to be taken up. Some of the popular programmes under this component

are：

ii) Establishment of Sericulture Resource Centre (SRC):

These training cum facilitation centres would be established in select Mulberry Bivoltine

& Vanya clusters with a unit cost of Rs.3.50 lakhs to act as an important link between

Extension Centres of R&D labs and the beneficiaries. The purpose of these SRCs is technology demonstration, skill enhancement, one-stop shop for Seri-inputs, doubt

Clarification and problem resolution at cluster level itself.

 

(iii) Capacity Building & Training by R&D Institutes of CSB:

In addition to conducting structured long-term training programme (Post Graduate

Diploma in Sericulture) the R&D institutes of CSB will also conduct technology-based

training both for farmers and other stakeholders besides organizing Krishi Melas,

Farmer’s day, farmer’s interaction workshops etc. for empowering the framers and

other industry stakeholders.

(iv) Capacity Building in Seed Sector:

Silkworm seed is the most critical sector that drives the entire silk value chain. The

quality of seed determines the quality of industry output. Therefore addressing the

capacity building and training needs of this sector is of paramount importance. It is

proposed to conduct a variety of training programmes to cover industry stakeholders

like – Pvt. Silkworm Seed Producers, Adopted Seed Rearers, Managers and work force

attached to Govt. owned grainages.

 

(v) Information, Education and Communication (IEC):

IEC is meant for supporting Capacity Building and training initiatives by popularizing

recommended technologies through Brochures, pamphlets, handouts, booklets etc. This component also propose to produce technology based instructional videos, study

Materials and documentary films to show case the industry

 

 

 

H Rudranna Gowda

Scientist-D

Central Silk Board

Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India

 

 

Reports from International Training Program on Processing Technology and Innovation Design of Modern Silk Products