Silk production will double in this state of the country, state government will soon launch its own label

Chandigarh : The Punjab government has taken a big decision to increase silk production in the state. On Saturday, the state government's Horticulture Minister Chetan Singh Joramajra gave information that the state government can soon launch silk products manufactured in the state under its own label. During the state level Silk Day celebrations, Joramajra also released the logo of the department created for silk products. He also said that a plan will be made to double the silk production of the state by the end of the year 2025.

Johar Majra said at present silk production is carried out in about 230 villages in the sub-hill districts of Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Pathankot and Rupnagar. 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 the poverty line, landless persons or people with small holdings,” the minister said.

higher value for the product

He said that 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 increase the income of farmers, Jauramajra 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.

Important Steps

A reeling unit is being set up in Pathankot to convert cocoons into silk thread. He said that commissioning of this unit could lead to 1.5 to 2 times increase in income. He also mentioned the important step of reactivating the state's only silk seed production centre in Dalhousie (Himachal Pradesh) to reduce production cost and make seeds available to farmers at affordable rates.

Assistance for cocoon marketing

Special Chief Secretary (Horticulture) K A P Sinha said that there are 13 government silk production farms in the state and with the infrastructure established 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.

(With agency input)