Rajshahi women attain self-reliance by producing silk-yarn

RAJSHAHI, Sept 20: Hundreds of people, mostly women, in Bagha and Charghat upazilas of the district are improving their living standard by producing silk-yarn.

With the training and financial support from the Bangladesh Sericulture Development Board, many village women have become self-reliant by adopting silk worm farming.

With a view to expanding sericulture through entrepreneurship development at different levels of production, the board has set up an ideal sericulture village in Meerganj under Bagha upazila, informed an official of BSBD.

The five-year project entitled 'Extension and Development of Sericulture in Public and Private sector in Bangladesh' was implemented across the country involving Tk 300 million, the source mentioned.

Under the project, 23 ideal sericulture villages were set up in the potential silk growing areas as a model to improve capacity of small and marginal farmers to establish high yielding mulberry garden and produce superior quality of silk cocoon.

The multidisciplinary activities provide unique job opportunities to the marginal farmers, landless poor, rural and contribute a lot to poverty reduction, the source added.

It is learnt, there are about 10,000 private handlooms with capacity of producing 30 million meters silk fabric across the country.

BSBD member Sirajul Islam said the project is developing suitable mulberry and silkworm varieties besides producing and supplying superior quality of mulberry saplings.

Under the project, 2,130 silk farmers were trained on sericulture processing and 330 people were provided with improved training on reeling, weaving and dyeing and printing.

In addition, some 700 farmers, 200 spinners and 200 silk weavers were given need-based training to improve their working efficiency in the field for improvement of rearing of mulberry trees and silkworm.

Liakat Ali, president of the Bangladesh Silk Industry Owners' Association, said only giving training and awarding the trainees with certificate and materials will not make the aim of the project successful rather there should be follow up training time to time and a regular observation of the activities whether the persons trained on this purpose were being able to use their expertise properly.

He further said, such training for silk farmers should continue to boost production of local yarn and thus to regain the lost glory of Rajshahi silk.

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