Note on Indian silk industry

Overview of Silk Industry

Introduction

Sericulture is a labour-intensive industry in all its phasesof the production chain, viz, cultivation of silkworm food plants, silkwormrearing, silk reeling, and other post-cocoon processes such as twisting, dyeing,weaving, printing and finishing. It provides employment to approximately 60lakhs persons, most of them being small and marginal farmers, or tiny &household industry mainly in the hand reeling and hand weaving sections.Cultivation of sericulture is not very widespread being practiced regularly incontiguous districts in the traditional States of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh,Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and J&K; in all the States of the North EasternRegion; in the tribal areas of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttaranchal, Orissa.The cocoons and silk processing industry has traditionally existed inclusters. India has the distinction of cultivating all the fourcommercially known varieties of silk, namely, Mulberry, Tasar, Eri and Muga.

Domestic Demand

Indiais the second largest producer of silk in the World, next to China, and has a 12.00% share in global raw silk production. While India produces around 18,475 MTsof raw silk annually (2006-07), total annual consumption of silk in thecountry, per annum is around 26,000 MTs. The additional requirement of 8,000MTs of silk (particularly, Bivoltine Mulberry Silk of international quality) isimported mainly from China. Therefore, there is scope for production ofadditional quantity of silk in the country to meet the domestic demand. Theraw silk production which was around 16,319 MTs during the year 2002-03 hasincreased to 18,475 MTs during the year 2006-07, showing an increase of around13.21% in-spite various constraints like drought in traditional Sericultural areasof southern peninsula during the year 2002-03 and 2003-04. This apart, theprices of Sericultural commodities had come down during the same period due tolarge scale dumping of Chinese Silk (yarn and fabrics) into the country duringsame period. However, the situation has now improved and the prices ofSericultural commodities have improved because of the imposition ofAnti-dumping Duty on the low grade silk yarn and fabrics imported from China. The stakeholders of the silk industry are now showing keen interest to take-upsericulture on a large scale due to the favourable conditions.

Export Potential

The export earnings from the silk are growing steadilybecause of increasing demand for Indian Silk goods particularly, from the USA and European countries. Exports earnings which was Rs.2,294.05 crores during the year2002-03 has increased to Rs.3338.35 crores during the year 2006-07, showing anincrease of around 46%. The India Silk Goods have high export potential becauseof its distinctiveness and low production cost. India, being a traditionalSericultural country, holds a unique position in the world, since it has thedistinction of cultivating all the four commercially known varieties of VanyaSilks viz., Tasar, Oak Tasar, Muga and Eri, in addition to the mulberry silk.The export potentialities of these Vanya Silks are yet to be exploited oncommercial scale.

EmploymentPotential

Sericulture has been promoted as an agro-based, labour intensive rural oriented cottage industry in the country, providing gainful employment mainly to the weaker and marginalised sections of the society. Itis a highly remunerative occupation requiring little capital investment. It isestimated that sericulture can generate employment @ 11 man days per kg of rawsilk production (in on-farm and off-farm activities) throughout the year.Employment and income generation is primarily among the disadvantageous groups,i.e., women, SCs, STs and minorities and other marginalized groups are alsosubstantially involved. It provides employment to approximately 6 millionpersons, most of whom are small and marginal farmers and marginal householdsinvolved in the hand reeling and weaving. Moreover, 60% of the Sericulturalactivities are undertaken by rural women. The employment under the silk sectorwas around 56 lakh persons during year 2002-03 has increased to 60.03 lakhpersons during year 2006-07 registering a growth of around 7.20 %.

Sericulture- Vibrancy to Rural Economics and Eco-friendly:

Majority of silk goods are purchasedby the urban rich and the middle-class and around 57% of the final value ofsilk fabrics flows back to the primary producers in the rural areas.Sericulture is an eco-friendly sustainable economic activity and helps to checkmigration of rural youths to urban areas. The host plants of both mulberry andVanya silks being hardy trees, their cultivation also help in soil and waterconservation.

Achievements during the X Plan

Physical Progress

The Table below indicates the performance of Sericulture Sector during the X Plan:

As it could be seen from the above Table, the area under Mulberry has been on the decline and production has also been fluctuating since 2003-04. The reasons for the same are listed below:

• Severe drought in sericulture dominant States such as Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamilnadu.
• Dumping of raw silk and silk fabrics by P.R. China in India, and consequent slump in domestic raw silk prices.

In-spite of the above the Industry could sustain and show steady growth due to improvement in productivity because of the research intervention.

Research & Development

The Central Silk Board has a network of Research and Development Institutes with a network of Regional Sericulture Research Stations and Research Extension Centers throughout the Country to provide necessary research and development support to the Industry. The achievement made under the R&D sector during the X Plan is given below:

During the X Plan, the thrust was on improving quality and productivity. Although the overall area under mulberry plantation reduced, the productivity has not decreased. Further, Central Silk Board stood by its commitments for promoting quality service and production. As a start towards this commitment, the Textile Testing Laboratory functioning at Bangalore, the Silkworm Seed Production Centers functioning in Karnataka, Kerala and Uttaranchal and the Training Division of Central Silk Board Head Quarters Bangalore and Central Seri cultural Research and Training Institute, Mysore have been accredited with ISO-90012000 and ISO-17025 Certification. Cocoon testing facilities have been set up in the cocoon markets. CSB has also established automatic reeling machines in the private sector with cocoon supply linkages with farmers aiming at producing international grade BV silk. The BV raw silk production has increased from 685 MTs during 2002-03 to 1,100 MTs during 2006-07 registering a growth of around 61% during the X Plan.

The important achievements are as follows:

• Introduction of new high yielding mulberry variety VI with a leaf productivity of 60 MT/ha/yr
• Increase in cocoon productivity from 45 to 60 kgs per 100 dfls
• Increase in cocoon production from 659 to 706 kgs per hectare
• Increase in raw silk production from 75.2 to 86.12 kgs per hectare

• Improvement in overall Renditta (number of kgs of cocoons required to produce one kg of silk) from 8.7 to 8.2
• Around 40 innovations were filed for patenting, of which 16 technologies have been commercialized in the pre-cocoon and post- cocoon sectors.
• 5 Bivoltine, 4 Multivoltine x Bivoltine and 2 Multivoltine x Multivoltine silkworm hybrids were authorized for commercial rearing
• Tasar reeling technology package was developed to produce superior quality tasar silk
• Total technology management package for multiend reeling has helped to produce 2A and above gradable raw silk
• Integrated Nutrient Management [INM] system was promoted with emphasis on reduced chemical inputs and increased biological inputs
• Integrated Pest Management [IPM] system was developed and promoted against various pests of mulberry and silkworm
• Bio-control agents were developed against Root rot, Root knot and Nursery diseases of mulberry
• An automatic conveyor cooking machine was developed for medium scale reeling establishments
• Dupion silk reeling machine was developed
• Eri mill spun yarn was designed and developed for product diversification

Some of the major break-through achieved during the X Plan period are as follows:

• Evolution of Tropical Bivoltine breeds viz. CSR hybrid series (CSR6x CSR26) x (CSR2xCSR27), CSR48xCSR5, CSR2AxCSR4A, CSR2xCSR4, CSR2xCSR5, CSR18xCSR19
• Evolution of high yielding mulberry varieties like V1(victory1) and S36 giving phenomenally higher leaf yields.
• Development of Integrated nutrient management measures comprising of various Bio-agents
• Development of Bio-control agents against Root rot, Root knot and nursery diseases.
• Development of Integrated pest management measures against various pest of mulberry and silkworms.
• Development of Bed disinfectants against various silkworm diseases
• Designed & Developed and Automatic conveyor cooking machine for medium scale reeling establishments.
• Designed and developed dupion silk for superior grade dupion silk
• Designed and developed Eri mill spun yarn for product diversification
• Designed and developed improved silk handloom, Ball to Beam warping machine, Hank to prin winder for handloom sector of the country
• Development of tasar reeling technology package to produce superior quality tasar silk

XI Plan Programmes

The XI Plan Programme aims towards increasing employment generation and poverty alleviation and women empowerment through capacity building. The Programme envisages both horizontal development through increased area under cultivation and vertical development by way of improvement in productivity and quality. The Catalytic Development Programmes will be continued during XI Plan with certain modification and higher levels of central subsidy for the transfer of improved technology packages to the field to improve the productivity and quality. These Programmes will be implemented in project mode through cluster approach. The table below indicates the physical target -

P - Provisional