Network Past Issues

The Silk Route
Gaurav Chauhan, Hemank Bhanot, Shadman Ansari & Vivek Yadav

The marketplace at the picturesque Himachal village of Ghumarwin was awash with voices as the four of us milled our way around it. We were in the midst of our Village Fieldwork Segment and doing some intense stock-taking. Taking in the verdant Himachal slopes and marigold studded foliage we saw men and women lugging little cocoon balls in bulging sacks. We were witnessing first-hand the sale and auctioning of cocoon, the precursor to silk.

 Silk... the very word conjures up images of shimmering cloth, soft to touch and becomingly yielding. Thinking of this luxurious ream states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal slide through the mind as sericultural hotspots. Think again. The sylvan state of Himachal Pradesh is no less a hub of eager beaver silkworms producing rich yards of “Bivoltine Silk” (producing two layings in a year).

While agriculture, horticulture and allied sectors continue to dominate the state’s economy, sericulture is not too far behind. What is more, it has the potential to generate productive and sustained income for HP’s rural masses. For the record, Himachal Pradesh happens to be amongst the most developed states going by both economic and human development parameters. Hilly topography and favourable agro climatic conditions, coupled with its abundant natural resources and mulberry wealth, render the state conducive to sericulture. Oak tasar activities are also conducted, albeit more minimally, at the Chamba and Kangra districts.

Sericulture is practised in 1,836 villages employing some 9,000 people of the state. Seven sericulture divisions exist in Mandi, Nadaun, Palampur, Ghumarwin, Sirmaur, Dehra, and Shimla with 83 mulberry farms spanning an area of 111 acres. While silkworms remain active throughout the scenic state their silky footprints are most evident in the districts of Bilaspur (35 percent) Mandi (25 percent), Kangra (22 percent), and Hamirpur (16 percent). These districts contribute, rather sizably, to the state’s total cocoon production. Currently, there are five regional sericulture research centres in Himachal Pradesh: Ghumarwin, Nadaun, Una, Hatwar, and Palampur.

We considered ourselves lucky to be in close proximity to Ghumarwin.

Presently, Himachal Pradesh boasts some eight multi-end silk reeling units all under the private sector in the above-named districts, a total of 64 basins, five silk power looms, and two silk twisting units. The latter belong to the government and private sector individually. With up to 30 percent of the cocoon getting converted to silk within the state most of it is sold outside.

The price of the cocoon is determined grade-wise and producers doing the grading at their end tend to receive payments faster than those who don’t. This is what we noticed at Ghumarwin apart from the fact that both men and women were equally active (and equally vocal) in their selling of the cocoon pellets. We witnessed one of our neighbours in Ghumarwin, Saroj Ayushmani (“Saroj aunty” for the VFS group) taking an active role in their sale.

The presence of state-level officers (two in this case) was a reassuring one; it was heartening to note that the Himachal government is doing its bit to ensure that producers get their due. We were also pretty impressed with the precision of the process. The cocoon samples were individually checked for quality, price, and weight with one of the traders diligently noting the details on paper. Cocoon of the finest quality fetched a price of Rs. 747 per kg that pristine summer day at Ghumarwin. Since the contact and bank account information of producers is registered with the research station money is deposited into their bank accounts the following day.

“Every year,” one of the state-level officers told us, “silk rearing factories from West Bengal, Bangalore, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra issue tenders before collecting the cocoon from the highest bidding state.” The previous spring, he went on say with pride ringing in his voice, Himachal Pradesh attracted three traders from the rather faraway Malda in West Bengal.

“Procurement this year,” one of the traders contended, “was to the tune of around 60000 kgs. If the average payment made for each sample is taken at Rs. 350, it translates to an economy of Rs.21 million. Add to it the spring season procurements and the amount easily touches Rs.25 million.” As stated before, the women of Himachal are equally committed to sericulture a la Saroj aunty. Self help groups comprising mainly women are involved in every activity right from silk rearing to cocoon selling, reeling, and selling to the textile industry. All this, obviously, helps augment their family income.

To conclude, the state government would be well-advised to take cognisance of factors like lack of awareness, cryptic climate, and an unregulated pricing mechanism given that agriculture has taken a backseat in entrepreneurial preferences. Inaugurating research centres with zest and enthusiasm is not the same as looking after their modernization and expansion with the same quantum of emotion. Sericulture has tremendous potential for productive and sustained rural employment. A fact the state of Himachal Pradesh should not forget.

E-mail: Gaurav Chauhan, Hemank Bhanot, Shadman Ansari & Vivek Yadav (PRM 34 Participants). The authors may be contacted at: gaurav@irma.ac.in, hemank@irma.ac.in, shadman@irma.ac.in, vivek@irma.ac.in respectively.