Sericulture is the art of producing silk, which includes mulberry farming, silkworm rearing, and post cocoon activities that result in the manufacture of silk thread. Sericulture provides meaningful employment, economic development, and an improvement in the quality of life for people living in rural areas, hence it plays an important part in anti-poverty programmes and prevents rural people from migrating to urban areas in search of work.
AROEHAN is creating public awareness about the silk industry and get government subsidies for farmers. In collaboration with the Silk Development Officer, a study tour was conducted for farmers at Pimpurna village in Dabhosa Gram Panchayat, Mokhada. Our Project Officer Ganesh Sarode provided information about the steps of silk farming. On the tour, the farmers visited the silk farm and demonstrations of production were shown. 74 farmers of Mokhada participated in this study tour and learned the nuances of the silk industry. The silk development officer of Jawar Mr. Sarang Sorte, and Assistant Silk Development Officer Mr. Mahesh Sutar, were present at the study tour along with members of AROEHAN team.
Mr. Sarode stated, “Farmers in Mokhada do not have enough knowledge about sericulture. We are trying to ensure that farmers can get income from sericulture. 100% of subsidy is available by the government through MGNERGA policy and farm labour is also provided. However, many farmers face difficulties to apply for the subsidy and some may not have registered documents. To tackle this we have provided farmers all the information about the government scheme and documents required for it. We have been creating public awareness since September 2023 and about 135 farmers have responded to us. Out of these 120 farmers have applied for the subsidy and they will likely be provided with subsidies in the Annual Year of 2024-25.” Mr. Hamre, a farmer part of this workshop, expressed, “Due to AROEHAN we have got information about sericulture and cleared our doubts, now we will also do sericulture with new vigour.”