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ReturnIndia:Karnataka may fall off Silk Route map
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PublishDate：
2008-03-13 15:19:00
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BANGALORE: Karnataka, India’s silk capital, could soon be losing its crown position with silk output from the state slipping to below 50% in 2006-07. Ten years ago, the state accounted for 68% of India’s silk production.
Sericulture is practised across 15 districts in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu with nearly six of them located in Karnataka. The fall in market share comes at a time when India’s silk production is projected to touch 26,000 tonne by the end of the 11th Plan period and experts believe that Karnataka would have to play a pivotal role.
On March 31, 2007, India, which is the second largest global silk producer was 18,475 tonne with traditional silk (mulberry) accounting for 90% of the output. “We are seeing sizeable increase in output in non-traditional areas like West Bengal.
Even Andhra Pradesh’s contribution has risen from 22% a decade ago to about 32% currently,” admits a senior official of the Central Silk Board (CSB). Competition from neighbouring states is serious and in right earnest. Nearly 30% of Tamil Nadu’s output is bivoltine silk (also known as temperate sericulture) and this percentage has risen from a measly 2% about four years ago to 30% currently. In 2006-07, India produced 1,100 tonne of the superior-quality bivoltine silk.
Talking about the turn in Karnataka’s sericulture fortune, industry expert M Ramachandra Gowda says, most of the traditional sericulture (mulberry growing) regions have been facing a chronic shortage of water and the problem is only compounded by non-availability of labour and lastly the lure of hard cash (read real estate).
Estimates indicate that close to 45,000 hectare under sericulture have been diverted for other use.On the labour front, for instance, while silk yarn reeling units typically pay around Rs 70-80 per day, young men prefer to migrate to cities like Bangalore where non-skilled jobs pay around Rs 100-150 per day. But, CSB is not losing hope. It is now hoping to promote sericulture in non-traditional areas (including northern Karnataka).
CSB chairman H Hanumanthappa told ET: “Thanks to availability of irrigation facilities we are getting enquiries from farmers in places like Bagalkot and Bijapur. This would see the rapid expansion of sericulture in that part of the state.” Mr Gowda says there should be focus on increasing semi-automatic reeling machines thus trying to partly offset the rising labour shortages.
Source: Industry Website
Sericulture is practised across 15 districts in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu with nearly six of them located in Karnataka. The fall in market share comes at a time when India’s silk production is projected to touch 26,000 tonne by the end of the 11th Plan period and experts believe that Karnataka would have to play a pivotal role.
On March 31, 2007, India, which is the second largest global silk producer was 18,475 tonne with traditional silk (mulberry) accounting for 90% of the output. “We are seeing sizeable increase in output in non-traditional areas like West Bengal.
Even Andhra Pradesh’s contribution has risen from 22% a decade ago to about 32% currently,” admits a senior official of the Central Silk Board (CSB). Competition from neighbouring states is serious and in right earnest. Nearly 30% of Tamil Nadu’s output is bivoltine silk (also known as temperate sericulture) and this percentage has risen from a measly 2% about four years ago to 30% currently. In 2006-07, India produced 1,100 tonne of the superior-quality bivoltine silk.
Talking about the turn in Karnataka’s sericulture fortune, industry expert M Ramachandra Gowda says, most of the traditional sericulture (mulberry growing) regions have been facing a chronic shortage of water and the problem is only compounded by non-availability of labour and lastly the lure of hard cash (read real estate).
Estimates indicate that close to 45,000 hectare under sericulture have been diverted for other use.On the labour front, for instance, while silk yarn reeling units typically pay around Rs 70-80 per day, young men prefer to migrate to cities like Bangalore where non-skilled jobs pay around Rs 100-150 per day. But, CSB is not losing hope. It is now hoping to promote sericulture in non-traditional areas (including northern Karnataka).
CSB chairman H Hanumanthappa told ET: “Thanks to availability of irrigation facilities we are getting enquiries from farmers in places like Bagalkot and Bijapur. This would see the rapid expansion of sericulture in that part of the state.” Mr Gowda says there should be focus on increasing semi-automatic reeling machines thus trying to partly offset the rising labour shortages.
Source: Industry Website
