Backgound

In India, major type of silk produced is of multivoltine in nature (15,149 MT) than bivoltines (1166 MT).India is importing 7000 metric tonnes of raw silk every year to meet out the domestic demand.  Tamil Nadu has mulberry area of 40,000 acres covering only traditional districts of Tamil nadu, viz., Coimbatore, Erode, Tirupur, Salem and Dharmapuri and producing  1500 MT of raw silk and out of which  bivoltine contributes only 350 MT.

Tamil nadu  contributes only  7.56 % of the Indian silk production and the local demand is met out from procurement of cocoons from neighbouring Karnataka state. Hence, to increase the contribution of Tamil Nadu to the total Indian  production and to reduce the national deficit of 7,000 metric tonnes, it is essential to introduce bivoltine hybrids for improving the quantity and quality of cocoon production apart from introducing Sericulture in the non traditional areas. The total contribution of bivoltine silk production by  Tamil Nadu is to the extent of 30 % compared to other states and hence, there is a good scope for further increasing the bivoltine silk production in Tamil Nadu

Project rationale
At present,majority of farmers rear multivoltines and bivoltine hybrids are reared only during winter in selected areas. In Tamil Nadu, the suitable bivoltine hybrids for rearing throughout the year is not available.The present raw silk production in Tamil Nadu is 1500 MT from 45,000 acres. The silk demand in Tamil nadu at present is fulfilled by procurement of cocoons from Karnataka apart from production. Multifacted utility of the sericulture creates copius demand of the industry year after year and generate employment oppurtunities at village level. Hence, to achieve the future need and demands, the multivoltine industry need to be necessarily replaced by the bivoltine industry and introduction of Sericulture in the non traditional areas  by establishment of chawki rearing centres and supply of chawki worms in and around the centres. Provision of chawki worms of appropriate breeds will minimize the risk of bi voltine production on the part of farmers.

Bivoltine chawki worms can be produced only by adopting scientific rearing methods with due importance to environmental conditions as chawki worms are more susceptible to temperature, humidity and stress conditions unlike multivoltine hybrids and cross breeds.

Project Strategy

1. To introduce and popularize bi voltine hybrids in different sericultural  districts of Tamil Nadu.

2. To introduce  and popularize Sericulture in the non traditional areas

3. To replace existing traditional culture of multivoltine hybrids with bi voltine hybrids.

4. Evaluation of suitable bivoltine hybrids for rearing throughout  the year in all seasons.

5. Establishing chawki rearing centres for successful rearing of bivoltines in Tamil Nadu.

6. Establishing testing centres which will serve as a pilot plant to familiarize the bivoltine rearing among the sericultural farmers.

7. Training on bivoltine rearing to extension staff of State department of Sericulture, NGOs, SHGs  and sericulture farmers and empowering them with bivoltine rearing technologies.

8.  To attain self sufficiency of silk production in Tamil Nadu by introducing bivoltines.

Project Goals/Objectives   

1. To replace the traditional multivoltine hybrids with bivoltine hybrids and introduce Sericulture in non traditional areas.

2. Identification of location specific bivoltine hybrids of silkworm for Tamil Nadu conditions by evaluating them in different testing centres.

3. Supply of appropriate bivoltine hybrids to farmers by producing chawki worms in the established chawki rearing centres.

4. To empower  sericultural officers of the State Department  of Sericulture, NGOs, SHGs and farmers through training on the current scientific methods of rearing bivoltine silkworms.

5. To increase the quantity and quality of bi voltine production in Tamil Nadu for attaining self sufficiency.

Project components

i) Target area

Districts to be covered
Five districts, viz., Coimbatore, Salem, Pudukkottai, Dharmapuri and Tirunelveli.

ii) Technical Programme.

a.Establishment of chawki rearing centres

Two centres will be established in each district totaling 10 centres or units. 75,000 dfls of chawki worms will be produced in each unit in a year. 50 farmers in and around the centre will be supplied with bivoltine early instar worms for better establishment and yield. 

b.Establishment of testing centres
Five centres will be established in each district totaling 25 centres  By establishing such   centres, bivoltines will be introduced to replace multi voltines .Altogether, 100 farmers will be benefitted in each district.

c. Procurement of eggs of bivoltine hybrids twice in a month for each centre.

The eggs of bivoltine hybrids will be purchased from Central Sericultural Research Institute, Mysore and supplied to various chawki rearing centres and testing centres . The eggs are needed to be transported in air conditioned vehicles without breaking the cold chain which is highly necessary for successful establishment of bivoltines.

iii) Beneficiaries

Deliverables (Supply of inputs/equipment to farmers)

Inputs to farmers

1. Rearing materials, humidifier, heater ,thermohygrometer, rotary mountage and others for which a subsidy of Rs. 25,000 will be given for one unit totaling Rs.2.5 lakhs for 10 units.

2. Inputs such as bleaching powder, lime powder, Sanitech as disinfectants for rearing room and appliances, bed disinfectants, detergents  and dettol for cleaning, food supplements,   rearing nets, Polythene sheets, wax paper, black paper, labour charges for leaf harvest, rearing silkworms  and others for which a subsidy of Rs.30,000 will be give for one unit of testing centres totaling of Rs. 7.5 lakhs for 25units.

3. Inputs such as bleaching powder, lime powder, Sanitech as disinfectants for rearing room and appliances, bed disinfectants, detergents  and dettol for cleaning, food supplements,   rearing nets, Polythene sheets, wax paper, black paper, labour charges for leaf harvest, rearing silkworms  and others for which a subsidy of Rs.30,000 will be give for one unit of chawki rearing centre  totaling of Rs. 3.0 lakhs for 10 units.
   
   Measurable outcome

4. Inferior multivoltines  will be replaced with superior  bi voltines

5. Sericulture will be successfully introduced in the  non traditional areas.

6. Farmers will be encouraged to take up bi voltine production by witnessing the activities in the chawki rearing centres and by way of intense training on latest bivoltine rearing  technologies.

7. The quality of cocoon produced will be enhanced thereby fetching more income to the farmers.

8. Empowering the farmers, SHGs, NGOs and extension staff of the State Department of Sericulture on bivoltine rearing technologies through training.

9. 1540 numbers will be directly benefitted and 1500 numbers will be indirectly benefitted out of this project making a total of 3040 beneficiaries.

10. Implementation of this project will increase the bi voltine  raw silk production to minimum of  50 metric tonnes in the first year and self sufficiency in the coming years.                                     

Contact:

Director,
Centre for Plant Protection Studies
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University
Coimbatore – 641 003
Phone: 0422-6611237 0422-6611437
Fax: 0422-6611437
E-mail: directorcpps@tnau.ac.in