India is eyeing silk production crossing 26,000 tonnes in the current fiscal, translating into a growth of around 20 per cent over last year.
“Silk production has been rising 15-20 per cent over the last few years, and we expect it to be the same this year as well,” R.B. Tandav, Deputy Director, Central Silk Board, said.
“During 2011-12, the total production stood at around 23,000 tonnes and this year it could cross 26,000 tonnes,” he said, adding that last fiscal, export of ready made garments earned around Rs 2,200 crore in revenue.
With nearly two lakh hectares in the country under sericulture, over 90 per cent of which is mulberry, India is the world’s second largest producer of silk, but still way behind China which produces 1,20,000 tonnes annually.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra, a new-comer to the ranks of India’s silk producing States, wants to quintuple the land under sericulture in the next five years.
“There is around 5,000 acres under it,” Sanjay Phule, Project Officer, District Silk Directorate, said adding that with grants that can go up to Rs 1.5 lakh an acre, the State Government is targeting raising the land under sericulture to 25,000 acres in the next five years.
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