Courtesy: PIB
India’s production of import substitute bivoltine silk is expected to reach around 6,200 MT in 2017-18 as compared to 5,266 MT in 2016-17, registering an increase of 19 per cent, the ministry of textiles has said. Bivoltine (raw) silk production has grown by 105 per cent in the last three years and has enabled substantial import substitution.
Meanwhile, muga silk has recorded highest ever production of 170 MT and has acquired a new growth momentum, the ministry said in its list of significant achievements in 2017.
The ministry further said that Buniyad reeling machines, launched on Marc 8, 2017, have helped in doing away with the regressive practice of thigh reeling by women.
For cooperation in sericulture sector, an MoU was signed between Central Silk Board and Guangxi Agriculture Department, China on July 1, 2017 at Gandhinagar. The MoU envisages collaboration between the two institutes to develop disease-resistant species of silkworm seeds.
On cotton, the ministry says that India has acquired the first place in the world in cotton acreage, with an area of around 105 lakh hectares. India has also emerged as the largest producer of cotton in the world, with a production of 345 lakh bales in 2016-17. India is also the second largest exporter of cotton. (RKS)
Source Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India