Kohima, May 16 (ANI): Keen to promote the silk industry and boost the economy of Naga villages, authorities in Nagaland have opened a cocoon bank in the region.
Recently, the Department of Sericulture inaugurated the Cocoon Bank at Signal Angami Village in Dimapur, Nagaland.
Launched by the Ministry of Textiles, the bank aims to improve silk production from the state to make it competitive in the country.
Currently the bank provides for silk yarn production that employs several people.
Though it does not have any organized marketing facility, but the products made here are sold in the open market through the department's emporium at Kohima.
The authorities buy cocoons from villages across the state and then extract the silk for the production of the clothes and other materials.
This has helped farmers in the state to get a good price which is better than what they used to get in the unorganized market earlier.
Wabang Lemtur, Deputy Director of the Department of Sericulture said the opening of the bank would boost the economy of the Naga villages.
The sericulture department now aims to provide technical knowledge about cocoon production to the villagers.
"We have to educate these villagers, train them technically so that they can train the rest of the villagers," said Lemtur.
"We are not having any testing unit as such. But we now have the machine for it and they are working in good conditions. With the motorize machines we can produce sufficient twist in the thread that can be used for weaving," said Melino, Extension Officer, Department of Sericulture.
There are four varities of silk worms found in Nagaland - Eri, Muga, Mulberry and Oak Tafar. The state produced 273 metric tones of Eri silk, 1.6 metric tones of Oak Tassar and 3 metric tones of Muga in 2010.
India has an overall demand of 48000 metric tones of silk annually. (ANI)
|
|
Comments:
