Home ›› 09 Dec 2021 ›› Nation
Sericulture – the art of producing silk through cultivation of silkworms and their food plants – began in China centuries ago, and Rajshahi embraced the craft as a cottage industry around the 1950s.
In the decades that followed, Rajshahi’s silk not only became the pride and joy of Bangladesh, but achieved fame as a brand across the globe too.
This industry has been providing an ample opportunity to the rural agrarian population of this region – particularly the poor – for earning a sustainable livelihood, as sericulture involves low capital investment, a short gestation period and high returns.
Most of the villagers in the region are farming silkworm alongside their regular household activities with assistance from the Bangladesh Sericulture Development Board (BSDB).
The multidisciplinary activity provides unique job opportunities to the marginal farmers, landless poor, rural artisans and also the urban silk fabric manufacturing industries and contributes significantly in poverty reduction, BSDB sources told The Business Post.
Thousands of people are working in this industry, engaged in growing cocoons, reeling silk, spinning, weaving, dyeing, printing, finishing and trading.
Md Abu Selim, president of Bangladesh Silk Board Employees League, said Rajshahi silk is a famous name in the domain of clothing items, especially sarees. “Sarees and other products made out of Rajshahi silk are coveted by users in both home and abroad,” he added.
The state-owned Rajshahi Silk Factory was founded in 1961, and in 1978, the then government handed it over to the Bangladesh Sericulture Development Board.
3 projects involving Tk 96.83cr underway
According to sources, in April this year, Rajshahi silk was given the Geographical Indication status, providing new livelihoods and opening up opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people, mostly women, in rural Bangladesh to become self-reliant.
The BSDB is implementing three projects involving around Tk 96.83 crore for improving living and livelihood conditions of the grassroots people, particularly the marginalised women, through substantial and sustainable development of the traditional silk sector, they added.
Headquartered in Rajshahi, the BSDB is implementing the projects throughout the country, particularly in regions that have potential for the silkworm farming, for achieving sustainable development goals in accordance with the government’s 7th Five-Year Plan.
Speaking to the Business Post, BSDB Director General Abdul Hakim said the projects will supplement the government’s efforts in building a social safety net and transforming the villages into towns in phases upon successful implementation of the plan by 2023.
The main objective of the five-year project titled “Sericulture Extension and Development” is aimed at generating employment of around 50,000 hardcore poor and landless women, to elevate their socio-economic condition by involving them in sericulture.
Another five-year project named “Poverty Reduction in Hilly Chattogram Districts through Extension and Development of Sericulture” is being implemented in the hilly districts for freeing around 15,000 extreme poor and landless women from poverty, through their engagement in silk-related income generation activities.
Apart from this, 15,000 poor and marginalised women will get the opportunity to improve their lives and livelihood through the intervention of another five-year project titled “Poverty Reduction in Greater Rangpur districts through Extension of Sericulture.”
The BSDB director said 620-bigha mulberry-cultivated land will be developed for production of 23.5 lakh silk-eggs and distribution of another 23 lakh saplings among the farmers through the implementation of these projects.
“We are going to establish 37 model silk villages and 500 mulberry blocks,” he said, adding that 43,000 kilogrammes of silk-cocoons will be purchased from the growers.
More than 4,800 farmers will be given support for silk-rearing and 6,300 others will get necessary assistance for mulberry transplantation. Under the schemes, 7,700 farmers will be given training on mulberry plants rearing, silkworm nursing and yarn reeling.
Six Chawki rearing/display centres and one silk reeling weaving training centre will be built.
Hakim said the government has taken an initiative to revive the silk industry, and promotional activities for the market are progressing too.
He continued, “The sericulture and silk industry, by its nature, is a family based labor-intensive economic activity that provides employment for the rural people. An initiative has been taken to re-launch the silk Factories in Rajshahi and Thakurgaon.
“Five looms in Rajshahi Silk Factory have already been re-introduced. At least 15 tonnes of silk yarn could be manufactured along with generating job opportunities for around 10,000 people if we can re-run all the 58 looms in the two state-owned factories.”
Hakim mentioned that sericulture has a huge prospect if it is nurtured properly as Bangladesh has a huge potential for the silk export market. “The BSDB has a plan for bringing Chinese experts to train the local farmers that will help boost silk production,” he added.
Responding to a query, an officer at the Bangladesh Sericulture Research and Training Institute Md Masud Ali said, “Currently, 60 people are getting trained in sericulture, and the training activities continue throughout the year.”
