Optimum Cropping Pattern for Sericulture-dominant Farms in Southern Dry Zone of Karnataka

Sericulture is labour-intensive and well-suited to small and marginal farms with surplus labour, especially female labour. Ample labour and a small land-base encourage farmers to practise sericulture as a subsidiary occupation. While income from crop production is seasonal, sericulture provides a year-round income, which is an important incentive for small farmers to take up sericulture. The agricultural production is seasonal, while consumption is evenly spread over the years. Under such circumstances, the planners and policymakers are confronted with the challenge of formulating a suitable agricultural production policy with which the desired growth of agricultural production can be achieved. In the present study, optimum cropping patterns for different categories of sericulturists have been suggested by selecting Siddlaghatta in Kolar and Kollegal talukas in Mysore as study areas. The primary data have been collected using the personal interview method. The deterministic linear programming technique has been employed to work out the maximum attainable returns by small, medium and large farmers through the optimum allocation of various crops, sericulture and livestock (dairy), using the available resources. The model has suggested fewer crops in the cropping pattern of both the areas. The model has also suggested shifting of the cropping pattern from subsistence-dominated crops like ragi to commercial crops like bivoltine sericulture in the Kolar area and crossbreed sericulture in the Musore area. The suggested cropping patterns have increased the gross income in the range of 83.55 to 388.68 per cent in the Kolar area and 2.71 to 10.70 per cent in the Kollegal area.Agricultural and Food Policy,

The plight of the Bangladeshi silk industry: An empirical investigation

In spite of having a glorious history in the sericulture industry Bangladesh still is not a bright name in silk production and export. Although the agro-climatic situation in Bangladesh greatly favors the development of silk industry, Bangladesh produces very little amount of silk products every year, whereas India, situated beside Bangladesh, is the second largest producer of sericulture. To investigate the reason behind this, a questionnaire survey has been undertaken in which only the owners or managers have been considered as representatives of the industry. A total of 21 silk enterprises was randomly sampled. Data analyses show that almost 57% of the silk enterprises have less than 40 decimal of land while only 19% have more than 100 decimal of land. These enterprises provided very limited facilities for their workers and mostly depended on imported raw materials. Owners pointed out several constraints to the development of silk industry in Bangladesh including insufficient government patronization and recommended several remedial measures including that the Bangladesh Silk Board (BSB) gives out production credit without too much conditions, adoption of modern technology, and information dissemination . It is evident that government, through BSB and BSRTI (Bangladesh Silk Research and Training Institute) has to play a crucial role to pull this industry up from the brink of destruction

Sericulture value chain analysis in Gamo Zone, Southern Ethiopia

Silk is a premium priced agricultural commodity. Both Eri and Mulberry silkworms has been reintroduced into the country twenty years ago. Still method of rearing, handling, and harvesting of the cocoons is at an infant stage while the quality of cocoons produced in Ethiopia is in the range of commercial silk produced in major silk producing countries. Value chain analysis may contribute to an increase in marketable surplus by scaling-down the losses arising due to inefficient production, processing, storage, and transportation. Therefore, the objective of this study was to analyze sericulture value chain, production and financial performance in Arba Minch Zuria and Mirab Abaya Woredas of Gamo zone. Three sericulture producer groups were addressed namely; rural sericulture producer youth enterprises; smallholder sericulture producer women and sericulture private limited company. Both primary and secondary data were collected and used to achieve the designed objectives. Undiscounted benefit cost ratio analysis were undertaken to conduct profitability analysis and Cobb-Douglas production function was employed to analyze productivity contribution of production factors used for cocoon production. Value chain analysis result shows that sericulture producer rural enterprises, smallholder women and Bere sericulture private limited company were main chain actors of the study area. Undiscounted BCR analysis result depicted that sericulture business operation in study area was profitable. Among seven variables considered in Cobb-Douglas production function model five variables namely; sericulture production experience, frequency of sericulture production training, number of polythene bags used for bedding silkworm feeding, human labor used and amount of credit used were found to be significant at 1%, 5% and 10% level, respectively. High silkworm egg mortality and absence of competitive market were reported as constraints of sericulture production and marketing, whereas government and Non-governmental organizations’ support were considered as opportunity by sericulture producer enterprises. Building marketing information delivery system and value chain upgrading were recommended for improvement of sericulture value chain of Gamo zone

New Evidence for Early Silk in the Indus Civilization

Silk is an important economic fiber, and is generally considered to have been the exclusive cultural heritage of China. Silk weaving is evident from the Shang period, though the earliest evidence for silk textiles in ancient China dates to more than a millennium earlier. New study of fibers from Harappan bronze artifacts reveals surprising early evidence for knowledge of silkworking in South Asia, the earliest evidence in the world for any silk outside China, and roughly contemporaneous with the earliest Chinese evidence for silk. This important new finding brings into question the traditional historical notion of sericulture as being an exclusively Chinese invention

Ericulture as a Remedy of Rural Poverty in Assam: A Micro Level Study in Barpeta District

Ericulture i.e., rearing of eri cocoon and spinning as well as weaving of endi clothes has been an integral part of the rural economic activities especially of the rural women in Assam. Though both male and female folk of all sections of rural population have been engaged in different sericulture activities, tribal women have been predominant in the rearing and weaving of eri raw silk and endi textiles, who in addition to their daily household activities use their leisure time and with the help of their traditionally inherited knowledge produce useful but comparatively cheaper endi clothes. The activities not only help to increase their household income but also help many of them to come out of the acute poverty. Moreover, these women become economically and thus socially more empowered. An attempt is made in this paper to throw some light on the role of ericulture and endi-entrepreneurship in the generation of income, employment and removal of poverty in Assam.Ericulture, Poverty eradication, Rural entrepreneurship

Study of Sericulture & Cocoon Production in Janjgir- Champa Diistrict of Chhattisgarh (India)

Sericulture is a growing business for rural development since it integrates well with farming practices and has the ability to produce lucrative income all year round. It boasts affordable startup costs and offers jobs all year round. Sericulture, a cottage and small-scale industry, is a labor-intensive, economically appealing, and environmentally friendly form of agriculture. Per square meter of land, sericulture produces a lot of work and cash. Sericulture offers many opportunities for improving human resource employability and can successfully slow down population migration to cities. When compared to other crop operations in terms of generating money, sericulture is the most lucrative. The cultivation of mulberries, the generation of silkworm seeds, the rearing of silkworms, the reeling and weaving of silk, the collecting of byproducts, and their processing are all aspects of the sericulture industry that generate a significant amount of work and, consequently, a source of income for rural and tribal people. Sericulture is recognized as a thriving rural sector primarily because it offers families and labor year-round, remunerative employment, and also guarantees periodic income even with tiny land holdings

Multidirectional Activities for Gene Pool Conservation in GCEARS-PSP

The Global Centre of Excellence for Advance Research in Sericulture and Promotion of Silk Production (GCEARS-PSP), recognised by ISC since 2014, was created with the main purposes: development of advanced research in sericulture and diagnostic services using modern techniques, achievement of a gene pool of different silkworms races and promotion of silk production. The objective of this study was to characterize the races from the GCEARS-PSP, in order to conserve the most valuable and resistant ones. This characterisation is a part of GCEARS-PSP’s strategy for the revival and development of sericulture and silk production in Romania. The GCEARS-PSP represents an important point of reference for Romanian sericulture. The experimental data described showed a good prospective for a proper functioning of the research centre and the obtained results are promising for the next lines of research

Peasant economy in the edebate on Japanese capitalismf: Tenancy contract facing the eTurning pointf

Japanese economy was losing its stability in the interwar period. Faced with the challenge, Moritaro Yamada gave an understanding that the stability of Japanese political economy before the First World War had been maintained by paternalistic institutions both of agricultural and industrial sectors, not based on thoroughly modern market mechanism. This then influential observation can still be supported by the classical dual economy model. However, as a scholar in the period of institutional change, Yamada failed to rightly predict the direction of change. While Yamada expected the change should lead to impersonal market mechanism, the real history showed people rather built a planned economy during the war and recovered stability. Yamadafs mistake was mainly in that he underestimated the significance of risk sharing in the paternalist organizations. At the gturning pointh where labor changed into scarce resource from surplus resource, two vectors with opposite directions could exist. Riskier opportunities for higher wages would encourage people to accept market mechanism based on impersonal exchange. Dissolution of risk sharing in paternalistic organizations would make people call for the sate taking on the role as a large welfare state. In Japan, especially in the middle of the Great Depression, the latter factor became dominant.Peasant economy, tenancy contract, risk sharing, institutional change.