An unprecedented support for pre-cocoon activities has rejuvenated the traditional silk industry in Assam’s Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), helping increase the annual income of silkworm farmers by at least 25%, officials said.
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The Bodoland Sericulture Mission was launched in 2023 to bail the cottage industry out of a depression caused by mechanised units and bulk producers in strategic locations beyond the BTR. Pre-cocoon support, a major component of the mission, proved to be a game-changer for villagers engaged in all stages of producing the GI-tagged Bodo Eri silk and weaving it.
Pre-cocoon support in sericulture entails efforts to improve the initial stages of silk production, including the development of improved host plants like mulberry, provision of specialised rearing equipment and disinfectants, establishment of rearing centres for young silkworms, and the supply of healthy, disease-resistant, and disease-free silkworm seeds to ensure successful cocoon crops.
“The initiatives helped increase the silkworm rearers’ annual income from ₹70,000 before the mission to ₹100,000. Our target is to increase it further to ₹150,000,” Nijwm Thomas Mushahary, a non-farm livelihoods specialist associated with the mission, said.
