Sericulture is very beneficial to the society particularly to the youth and women, in terms of providing them with a variety of employment options and viable income without affecting their regular agricultural activities or the existing socio-cultural equilibrium.
Keeping this in mind, The Ethiopian Herald conducted an exclusive interview with Abdurazak Muhie, an agro-economist who graduated from Jimma University, to have a piece of information about the cultivation of silk work, sericulture.
He said, “Sericulture is a rearing of silkworm, which practiced throughout the globe. Silkworm is the primary productive insect species for sericulture industry. Silk has strong attraction to the people of Ethiopia starting from ancient period of country’s civilization. Silkworms classified as mulberry and non-mulberry silkworms.”
As to him, sericulture is agro-based industry which can be practiced by small scale famers or out growers. It has various advantageous; e.g. socio-economic, religious and ecological values, creating job opportunity, alternative source of income, environmental conservation, technology adoption, and others.
In Ethiopia, he said, the main zones and districts under silk production include Jimma, Arba minch, Hawassa, Bahir Dar, Adigrat, Wolliso, Hawzen, Awash Melkassa, Bishoftu, and Abaya district, among others. However, silk production in the country is still limited by several factors that can be classified into institutional factors, farmer related problems, infrastructure factors, and natural factors. Therefore, government and other stakeholders should work on solving these problems and give attention in all directions toward sericulture. Sericulture is an agro-based industry, and a process of obtaining the natural silk fiber through silkworm rearing, which can be practiced in varying agro-climatic conditions, and is suited to different production systems, he added.
He said, historically, the production of silk originates from China. At that time silk was not only in use for clothing but also for a number of other applications. The color of silkworm was an important guide of social classes during the tang dynasty (618–907). The Arabs also begin to manufacture silk at the same time. As a result of the spread of sericulture, Chinese silk exports became less important, although they still maintained dominance over the luxury silk market. During the 16th century France joint Italy in developing a successful silk trade, do the efforts of most other nation to develop a silk industry of their own were unsuccessful.
“The potential of the African indigenous silk moth species for wild silk production has been well documented in Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya and other Central and Southern African countries. Silkworm farming is a simple endeavor that offers both young men and women significant prospects. It is a year-round business in which the producers are engaged and tend to conduct rearing operations day and night throughout the year. It is also ideal for integrating it into small landholdings and providing family members who are unable to work on farms with employment options. In addition, multipurpose food crops including cassava, pepper, maize, and fruits can be used as additional feed sources, particularly during times of seasonal feed scarcity,” he said.
“The ability to incorporate several actors along the value chain is another significant benefit of sericulture. This is because the business offers a variety of worthwhile employment options and productive economic activities. These include primary production at the smallholder and commercial farm level, value addition and processing in small to medium enterprises, and trading in lucrative niche export markets. We tracked the community impact and found that the business encourages community participation and provides opportunities for growth. Its cash flow patterns are also very conducive to rural prosperity. It also reduces the number of people moving from rural to urban regions,” Aburazak said.
Sericulture is an agri-business that can easily be incorporated with other farming activities and contribute to the rehabilitation of damaged landscapes in addition to its direct contributions to household income. The silkworm wastes and other by-products speed up the recycling of nutrients in the soil, attracting growers to various integrated agribusinesses and increasing their profits to the maximum, he opined.
He said, “As silk has played an important role in the social and religious life of Ethiopia from the earliest days of the kingdom of Axum, sericulture has been, as an agro-based industry, practiced in the country despite its minimal intensity. It is the process of obtaining the natural silk fiber through silkworm rearing, which can be experienced in varying agro-climatic conditions and is suited to different production systems.”
According to Abdurazak, sericulture industry has enormous advantages for sustainable development of any country. The industrial and commercial uses of silk contributed to the silkworm promotion all over the world especially in developing nations like ours.
To put it as succinctly as possible, he elucidated, sericulture is the rearing of silkworm, which is practiced in many countries around the globe, and silkworm is the primary productive insect species for the sericulture industry. Silk has a strong attraction to the people of Ethiopia, dating from the ancient period of the country’s civilization. It has various advantages, among others: socio-economic, religious and ecological values creating job opportunity, alternative source of income, environmental conservation, and technology adoption.
The country has also granted with diversified climate, vegetation and topography, and this is also true for diversified options of sericulture industry which are adopted on different vegetation for rearing of silk-worms, and different species of silkworms. Besides, he discoursed that the country has bimodal rainfall pattern, ambient temperature, and other agro-ecological factors provide a fertile ground for mulberry and caster seed cultivation and silkworm production.
Some of the areas of investment in sericulture which have incredible employment potential in the country include collection and processing of cocoon, silk based textile production, silkworm seed production as well as production of cocoon processing equipment, he added.
Therefore, Abdurazak said it is quite important to introduce sericulture technology to the local community by providing them with expertise, new plant cultivator, new silkworm seeds and the overall production scheme through training.
He further stated that silk production can be integrated with other farming activities like fish farming, aquaculture, beekeeping or apiculture, vegetable production and poultry farming. Sericulture means indeed, the production of raw silk by a method of raising caterpillars particularly those of the domesticated silkworm, he added.
As to him, silkworm farmers buy eggs and rise then they keep these under suitable conditions. Then the eggs are warmed so that they can hatch. Then they let the caterpillars grow in that particular condition. Caterpillar eats Mulberry leaves. After this, they keep these caterpillars in the clean bamboo tray with mulberry leaves. The caterpillars move to a chamber to build a cocoon in that tray Also small drags are provided so cocoon get attached. And then silkworm spins the cocoon inside.
Mulberry leaf is also considered as commercial crop because its stems, leaves, roots will be used for industrial and pharmaceutical purposes he said adding in Ethiopia, silks are produced in different agro-ecological zones by some companies through commercial as well as smallholder farmers both as a source of income and employment opportunity. Besides, sericulture is highly profitable activity.
Besides, he added shortage of capital, lack of necessary facilities and inputs, absence of skill and knowledge, attitude problem, dearth of necessary support from government and others have made sericulture cultivation a sluggish one. Therefore, the sector requires due attention via proper management practices, continuous follow-up and holistic support as needed in order to enhance the quality and production scales thereby reinvigorating sericulture production for better future on citizens’ livelihood effectively using the subsector.
They also want to transform it into a family business by integrating it with other complementary farming activities. This is because children, teenagers, and family members are all very helpful in this community and realize that raising silkworms is a profitable business.
In a nut shell, as silkworm is responsible for the spinning of silk. A silkworm is reared to obtain silk, producers especially the farming community need to be given due empathies to help the nation get the benefit it deserves out of the subsector.
BY MENGESHA AMARE
The Ethiopian Herald may 1/2024
