The Rural Development Department, as part of its poverty alleviation project, is gearing up to launch the Silk District project, a Centrally sponsored scheme, to tap the sericulture potential of Wayanad.
“The Central government has selected the hill district as one of the 50 districts in the country for executing the project under its ‘One district one product’ scheme. The project is envisaged to attain self-sufficiency in raw silk production in the country,” said P.C. Majeed, poverty alleviation project director, Wayanad.
The Central Silk Board aims to expand mulberry cultivation from the current 2.84 lakh hectares to 3.25 lakh hectares in the next three years. The district was selected for the project after considering its huge potential in raw silk productivity and marketing of cocoon in the district, said Mr. Majeed.
As a district that produced bivoltine (producing two broods in a season) cocoon, Wayanad had huge untapped potential in sericulture, he said. Sericulture and its allied sectors could provide a lot of job opportunities to youths in the rural areas, said Mr. Majeed, adding that sericulture farmers could earn ₹600 to ₹700 a kg of cocoon after a sharp decline in silk production in China recently.
Mulberry cultivation is spread over 70 acres in the district and the project plans to expand the cultivation to 100 acres in the first phase. The district was producing 9.5 tonnes of raw silk a year at present, and it would be increased to 13 tonnes a year, said sericulture department sources. (For details, contact 04936-202465)
