Priyanka Sharma
The heart of India lies in our villages, as Gandhi pointed out many a time, if her heart is strong and healthy the whole body would be naturally so. The J&K’s economy is predominantly agrarian and according to the census 2011, around 72.62% of the total population lives in rural areas. Today it is facing a number of challenges like urban migration, unemployment, under-employment, poverty, under-development etc. And one of the pressing factors behind it is degenerated rural economy. Farmers are migrating to the urban areas in search of jobs. The on-going crisis of Covid-19 showed how problematic this issue is. The dire need of the hour is to regenerate the J&K rural economy and make it self-sufficient. One of the possible solutions of this problem is to revive the local rural industries of J&K like sericulture.
Sericulture is an ancient labour intensive agro-based cottage industry dating back to several centuries. It is a traditional knowledge of producing the marvellous fibre, the queen of textile, Silk. The entire gamut of sericulture consists of multiple stages which begin by nurturing silkworms and then processing the fibres they produce. These silk fibres combined into silk thread, which could be further twisted to silk yarn and woven into silk cloth. Sericulture is the meeting place for agriculture and art (in the hands of rural people), art and industry, ancient culture and civilisation, the rich and the poor and it reflects the interdependence of these.
Sericulture is one of the traditional occupations in J&K and supports almost 60% of its rural population. This industry has been the back bone of J&K’s economy. Jammu and Kashmir has an exceptionally dynamic history of sericulture. Over thousands of years, Silk has become an inseparable part of its culture. In fact there is great deal of evidence in ancient literature that the silk originated in Kashmir. However, the exact period of introduction of silk industry in J&K is contested.
According to Central Silk board of India, sericulture provides means of livelihood to more than 30,000 rural families in J&K. It is practiced as an important subsidiary occupation for livelihood in almost all the 20 districts. Jammu & Kashmir is the only traditional silk producing destination of India which is capable of producing bivoltine silk comparable to the quality of silk imported in the international market. The climate of J&K is congenial for rearing both uni-voltine and bivoltine silkworm species for cocoon production. These cocoons are far superior to the multi-voltine ones produced in the rest of India. J&K shares about 65% of the total raw silk produced in north India.
Sericulture holds tremendous potential and it can be used as an instrumental tool for rural development. It has a vast potential for income and employment generation in rural areas and best suited for the small and marginal farmers as only small land holding is required to rear silkworms. This industry could help to create an egalitarian distribution of income as it can transfer the share of the final silk product from elite class to the poor and marginal farmers. Thus it could be used as a tool for alleviating rural poverty and for improving the living standards of the poor farmers and artisans involved in it. Sericulture is a labour intensive industry and 60% of the work force employed is women. So it is best suited for an economy with surplus man power and could also be instrumental in women empowerment. Apart from this, it could also help in realising the goal of sustainable development as it is an eco-friendly activity. It is one of the promising rural local industries as it requires less time and money investment but the returns could be really high. But it is disheartening that the silk industry of Jammu and Kashmir which has seen a glorious past is on decline while a large section of the population continues to be dependent on it.
According to the Sericulture policy 2020 of J&K, the mulberry silk production of J&K accounts only for 0.66% of the total mulberry silk production of India. Silk is an elite product in itself but those farmers and artisan who are producing it are struggling to meet their ends. In spite of being such an important sector and a brilliant source of revenue, the silk industry of J&K is neglected by the administration also. There are gaps in the marketing structure as well as in the state policy. If we analyse the pre-cocoon sector, the farmers are facing a number of problems in marketing like cocoon price fluctuation, low floor price of the cocoon especially B, C and D grade etc. Due to monopoly of traders, farmers are usually left with no choice and thus do not get the viable price for their crop and the issue of price fluctuation add on to their woes. Their long demand of crop insurance is yet not fulfilled by the department. There is trust-deficit and communication gap in the farmers and the department. The department itself doesn’t have the sufficient technical and other required staff which led to protests many a time in the ertwhile state. Due to no complete established chain from farm to fabric, even the reelers are suffering. This also leads to no value addition in the waste produced during the whole process of silk formation.
During the pandemic situation, these limitations of the industry got highlighted once again when the farmers were exploited in the UT regulated auction markets of cocoon due to monopoly of the Bengali traders when JKIs limit of procuring cocoon exhausted. The local private silk reeling sector also suffered as the auction markets were not organised timely due to lockdown.
Given the importance and the potential sericulture holds, a strong UT support is required in order to transform it into a profitable and sustainable enterprise. A comprehensive approach is required to fill the gap and solve the challenges it faces. There has to be a complete value chain from farm to fabric. This industry must be expanded both horizontally and vertically. A comprehensive policy analysis and a political analysis of the marketing structure is something that should be done to reverse the decline of this industry. Sericulture provides an incredible opportunity of fulfilling the goal of rural development and self-sufficiency and we should not miss it. If the required steps won’t be taken timely, the industry may die a silent death.
(The author is Researcher at Department of Political Science, University of Delhi.)
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