Bengaluru: The Garden City will house country’s second centre of excellence for sericulture. The Union government’s move of setting up the second sericulture centre in Bengaluru will give a push to Karnataka’s status as the premier sericulture hub of India.
Central Silk Board chairman K M Hanumantharayappa informed on Monday that Union minister for Textiles Smriti Irani would launch the centre on Tuesday, December 20. “Irani would also launch the automatic reeling machine at the Central Silk Board premises in the city. It will enable the Board to attain self-sufficiency and bring silk import to zero level by 2020,” he said.
According to Hanumantharayappa, India mports nearly 4,000 metric tonnes of high quality raw silk from China, whereas the automatic reeling machine can produce about 20 metric tonnes of silk per year utilizing cocoons produced by around 200 local farmers. At present, the country is producing nearly 4,000 tonnes of 4A grade of silk, equivalent to the top grade of silk imported from China.
The first sericulture centre was set up in Ranchi, Jharkhand.