Minister of State for Textiles Ajay Tamta has assured of all support will be extended to Assam state to develop its sericulture sector to make it a dominant rural industry, emphasizing the socio-economic importance of sericulture in sustaining the livelihood of rural population. Sericulture is an age-old tradition of Assam.

The Minister revealed that more than Rs 200 crore has been released for the State and that additional aid will be provided for developing infrastructure. Also, there is a need to explore the immense potential of the State in sericulture.

The Minister, who visited various clusters here to assess the status of sericulture farms and activities of farmers, said that the farmers have been facing certain problems due to lack of proper fencing of gardens and shortage of water. He promised to look into all the issues of the farmers and asserted that modern technology would be made accessible to the farmers.

On the other hand, speaking on the potential of the North East, Tamta said that Assam and the other states of the region enjoy the unique distinction of producing all four varieties of commercially exploited natural silks – eri, muga, mulberry and oak tasar.

Production of raw silk has shown an increasing trend in the North East during the last few years due to concerted efforts made by the Government of India in a systematic way, mentioned Tamta, adding that to enhance raw silk productivity at the farmer level, a total area of 88,476 hectares has been brought under silkworm food plant in the region.

Tamta further said that the Union Ministry of Textiles has sanctioned 22 projects under the North Eastern Region Textiles Promotion Scheme with the Govt of India’s share of Rs 646.35 crore for development of mulberry, eri and muga sectors in the region. Under these projects it is estimated that additional 1472.44 metric tonnes of raw silk will be produced.