India’s Central Silk Board
(CSB), which has allocated 6.3 crore for Odisha in the current fiscal, has
sought more proposals from the state government under the central sponsored
schemes (CSS) for development of silk industry there. The board has already
sanctioned Rs 94 lakh and provided 106 Buniyad machines, according to CSB Chairman KM
Hanumantharayappa.
The machines have been distributed among women
reelers in Fakirpur and Ata areas of Keonjhar district. There is a demand for
about another 400 machines which will be provided soon, a report in a top
south Indian daily quoted Hanumantharayappa as saying. Though Odisha is predominantly a tasar silk-producing
state, emphasis has also been given to increased production of mulberry silk
there. Two cluster-based programmes in that regard are being implemented in
Ghatgaon block of Keonjhar and Kashipur in Rayagada district, he said.
The board has provided Rs 12.3 crore for
implementation of the Vanya Cluster Promotion Programme (VCPP) besides
Promotion of tasar culture under Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) in Mayurbhanj and
Keonjhar districts where around 1,500 farmers have benefited. The beneficiaries
have been provided 90 per cent assistance as subsidy. The state produced 125 tonnes of silk, including
115 tonne of tasar silk, last year. Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Sundargarh are the
major tasar producing districts. About 20,000 tribal families in the state
practise sericulture of which, more than 16,000 are tasar farmers.