Silk production
The Punjab government on Saturday said it will market silk products manufactured in the state under its own ‘label’. During the state-level Silk Day celebrations, Horticulture Minister Chetan Singh Jouramazra unveiled the department’s ‘logo’ for silk products. He announced that all-out efforts would be made to double silk production in the state by the end of the year 2025. Jouramazra said at present silk was being produced in about 230 villages in the sub-hill districts of Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Pathankot and Rupnagar.
There are two types of silk in the state
He said the state mainly produces two types of silk- bivoltine mulberry and eri silk. ”This business is mainly carried out by people living below poverty line, landless persons or people having small holdings,” the minister said. He said currently, the annual income of a silk farmer is Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000, which is considered inadequate. Raising the matter of fair pricing of silk products to enhance the income of farmers, Jauhar Majra said the government would set up its own reeling units to process the cocoons, which would ensure that silk farmers get higher prices for their product. A reeling unit is being set up in Pathankot to convert cocoons into silk yarn.
Farmers’ income will increase by 2 times
He said that commissioning of this unit could lead to 1.5 to 2 fold increase in income. He also mentioned the important step of reactivating the only silk seed production centre of the state at Dalhousie (Himachal Pradesh) to reduce the production cost and make seeds available to farmers at affordable rates. Special Chief Secretary (Horticulture) K A P Sinha said that there are 13 government silk production farms in the state and with the established infrastructure in these farms, the technical staff of the department is providing necessary facilities to the silk farmers. These facilities include plantation assistance, distribution of silkworm eggs, rearing of young silkworms and assistance for cocoon marketing etc.
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