ROURKELA: Sericulture or silk farming in Sundargarh district is set for a big leap with the district administration proposing to set up a Tasar Silk Park at Khuntgaon in Lahunipara block. At present, sericulture farmers of three blocks of Bonai sub-division along with Bargaon and Bisra blocks are engaged in Seed Crop Rearing (SCR) and Commercial Crop Rearing (CCR). They sell silk cocoons through local primary cooperative societies.
Collector Nikhil Pawan Kalyan said the Tasar Silk Park is proposed to be established under the Odisha Livelihoods Mission (OLM) in association with the Sericulture department with funding from Sundargarh District Mineral Foundation (DMF). He said the project is envisaged on the concept of ‘Soil to Silk Ending in Fabric’ and aims to provide livelihood to the forest fringe communities.
Keonjhar-based Deputy Director of Sericulture, in additional charge of Sundargarh, Lucia Lakra said Lahunipara, Koida and Bonai in Bonai sub-division besides Bisra and Bargaon blocks in Sundargarh have about 5,000 registered sericulture farmers of which about 3,000 are active.
She said silk farmers and their family members traditionally rear natural silkworms on host trees, Asan and Arjun, in adjacent forests to get cocoons. The trees have been planted on around 500 hectare land in Bonai. Two crops are grown in a year with seed crop rearing done during July-August and commercial crop rearing in November.
The farmers can earn a minimum of `20,000 from 100 disease free laying in a single crop. Lucia said the proposal for the Tasar Silk Park at Khuntgaon is in nascent stage and the project is likely to be set up on the model of a similar park at Bhagamunda in Keonjhar. She said the upcoming park will have reeling, re-reeling, spinning, weaving, textile printing and embroidery facilities.
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