HimVani
Mandi: The Silk Board of India has sanctioned a Rs 1.84 crore project for silk production in Mandi and Hamirpur districts of Himachal Pradesh. Disclosing this at a public meeting in Dharampur sub-division here today, Transport Minister Mahender Singh Thakur said these two districts have a vast potential for silk production.
He said the silk Board had sanctioned three other major projects for the state which would attract farmers to take sericulture in a big way and help explore better marketing channels. Presently, as many as 9,000 families are engaged in silk production in the state. “Steps are being taken to modernize this cottage industry to raise the economic standard of the rural community,” he added.
The Board has already given approval for setting up of a modern silk-testing laboratory in Mandi for issuing quality certificates to the growers who earlier had to go to Jammu for testing their products. The minister said as many as 15 hatcheries have been set up in the state for providing silk worms to the farmers. Besides this, an ambitious plan had been drawn up to take up massive production of mulberry plants in Kangra, Mandi, Hamirpur, Una and Bilaspur districts of the state. The Board has also approved an incentive of Rs 20,000 each to the best 100 farmers of the state.
