Impact of Sericulture Development Project in District Bilaspur of Himachal Pradesh

The study reveals that raising mulberry farm, establishing Chawki rearing centre and cocoon markets have been very effective in enhancing the utilization of silk seed by over four times and the cocoon production by five times over a period of four years (2010-11 to 2013-14). Besides, the awareness level of farmers in sericulture technology was assessed to the extent of 45% through training and exposure visits. The sericulture project has further impacted in terms ofraising income and employment of beneficiaries to the extent of 2 and 11 %, respectively. However, inadequate financial support for constructing silk worm rearing shed and low average yield of cocoons per ounce of seed due to inadequate supply of mulberry leaves need special attention to harness the potential and achieve set targets of the project timely. The study emphasize some policy interventions viz.; enhancing the supply of mulberry leaves in combating the shortage by expanding area at individual and community level and developing irrigation infrastructure for existing mulberry plantations. Secondly, the financial support need to be enhanced for constructing silkworm rearing house with reasonable financial support to the extent of at least Rs 1 lakh. Education of beneficiaries through training camps and exposure visits be continued and strengthened for updating&up- scaling their skill and capacity building.