Punjab Horticulture Minister Chetan Singh Joda Majra has launched a new initiative by releasing the department’s logo for silk products. Meanwhile, Chetan Singh Joda Majra has also announced that every effort will be made to double the silk production in the state by the end of the year 2025. During the state-level function organized in connection with Silk Day at Magsipa, he said that silk farming business is being done in about 230 villages of the semi-hilly districts of the state, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Pathankot and Rupnagar.
Chetan Singh Jodmajra said that 1200 to 1400 silkworm rearers are associated with this business. He said that mainly two types of silk are produced in the state, bivoltine mulberry and eri silk. Annually 30,000 to 35,000 kg of mulberry silk (broken) is produced from 1000 to 1100 ounces of mulberry silk seed and annually 5000 to 8000 kg of eri silk (broken) is produced from 200 ounces of eri silk seed.
The Cabinet Minister said that this business is being taken up by people living below poverty line, landless or having less land in the state and a silkworm rearer earns Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 50,000 annually which is very less.
The Horticulture Minister said that silk farming is very hard work and the farmers do not get a fair price. He said that to reduce the cost, silk seeds will be produced in government farms and made available to farmers at affordable rates. He said that restarting the only silk seed production center of Punjab Government located in Dalhousie is an important step taken in this direction.
Talking about the fair price of silk production to increase the income of farmers, Chetan Singh Jodha Majra said that the government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann will process the cocoons by setting up its own reeling units so that silk farmers can get a higher price for their production. Jodha Majra said that a reeling unit is being set up in Pathankot to make silk thread from cocoons in the state. With the start of this unit, the income of silk farmers can be increased by 1.5 to 2 times.
Addressing the function, Special Chief Secretary (Horticulture) K.A.P. Sinha said that there are a total of 13 government sericulture farms in the state. With the establishment of infrastructure in these farms, the technical staff of the department is providing necessary facilities to the silkworm rearers such as plantation, distribution of silk seed to the rearers, chaki rearing and assistance related to cocoon marketing.
Horticulture Director Shailinder Kaur said that the sericulture business in Punjab is based on the hard work of poor people and this business can be developed on a large scale. She said that many efforts are being made by the Horticulture Department to develop this business and increase the income of silk farmers.
The Horticulture Minister interacted with the silkworm rearers and listened to their problems and assured them that soon the state will start its own silk seed production centre and this seed will be made available to the farmers at cost price so that they do not have to face problems like technical problems, transportation cost and spoilage of seeds in getting the seeds from other states.
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