The Hindu Business Line : Bivoltine silkworm rearing catches on in Udumalpet

Silky route
Salubrious climate and fair amount of rainfall provided the right platform.
More demand for silk cocoon and raw silk also the reason

Coimbatore , July 3

Farmers in Udumalpet region who have taken to sericulture are increasingly raising the bivoltine silk species due to higher cocoon yield.

Against an overall 25 per cent bivoltine silkworm adoption by farmers in Tamil Nadu, 60 per cent of the farmers of Udumalpet have adopted it.

Out of the 1,200 sericulture farmers in Udumalpet, 650 are currently raising bivoltine silk species, according to Mr I. Devasagayam, Assistant Director, Department of Sericulture, Udumalpet.

He said that Udumalpet with its salubrious climate and fair amount of rainfall has provided the right agro-climatic platform for the sericulture to pick up in the area.

The higher demand seen for silk cocoon and raw silk have also played a role in farmers increasing mulberry acreage - silk worms feed on mulberry plants - from 600 acres a few years ago to 1,400 acres now.

Sericulture officials said that with the bivoltine silkworm rearing catching up, the acreage would soon double.

A regional research co-ordination meeting was held in Udumalpet early this week, in which the director of the Mysore-based Central Sericulture Research and Training Institute, Dr S.B. Dandin took part.

The meeting deliberated on giving further impetus to growing sericulture.

Among the proposals considered is creating a sericulture farmers' school at Udumalpet to spread latest cultivation technology and promotion of contract farming of sericulture in the region.

The farmers in Udumalpet are demanding providing of market linkages for the cocoons harvested by them.

Establishment of silk reeling units locally would provide a ready market for the cocoon farmers; this was also suggested at the meeting.