Volume of silk production may be on the decline in traditional silk cultivating areas in Southern Karnataka districts, thanks to rapid urbanisation and industrialisation. But Central Silk Board’s efforts to popularise sericulture in northern Karnataka districts is paying off, board chairperson H. Hanumantappa has said.
Speaking to presspersons after inaugurating the “Silk Mark Expo” here on Wednesday, Mr. Hanumantappa said that farmers in Belgaum, Bidar, Bijapur, Bagalkot, Gulbarga, Gadag and Haveri were abandoning sugarcane cultivation to start sericulture, as the returns were better here.
On the resistance by farmers and reelers to the Government’s decision to allow import of duty-free silk, Mr. Hanumanthappa said that the decision would not harm their interest in any way because the import was restricted to varieties that are not locally produced. He said that while 2-A variety of silk was produced in India, it was 3-A and 4-A varieties that were being imported.
“India produces 19,000 tonnes of silk against a demand for 26,000 tonnes. We are trying to bridge the shortfall through import,” he said.
Exports
Mr. Hanumanthappa said that silk exports, that were going downhill during recession years, was looking up again. “The export this fiscal stands at Rs. 2,900 crore, and it will cross the Rs. 3,200-crore mark by the end of the year,” he said. The domestic demand for silk was also on the rise, he added, with the board trying to move beyond the sari market to appeal to the young buyers.