Overseas participants undergo month-long hands-on training in sericulture at CSRTI in Mysuru

Member Secretary of Central Silk Board P. Sivakumar lighting the lamp during the inauguration of the training programme on Sericulture and Silk Industry for overseas participants at CSRTI in Mysuru on Friday. | Photo Credit: M.A. Sriram

A total of 22 overseas trainees from seven different countries began their month-long training in ‘Sericulture and Silk Industry’ under the Indian Technical and Economic Co-operation (ITEC) at Central Silk Board’s (CSB) Central Sericultural Research and Training Institute (CSRTI) in Mysuru on Friday.

The participants from Ethiopia, Ghana, Philippines, Romania, South Sudan, Uganda, and Thailand will undergo hands-on training in mulberry silkworm rearing and will be exposed to the latest technologies developed by CSB-CSRTI, Mysuru. They will also make visits to farms of progressive sericulture farmers and allied sectors of sericulture in and around Mysuru.

Inaugurating the training programme sponsored by the Ministry of External Affairs, Member Secretary of CSB P. Sivakumar called upon the overseas participants to learn different technologies that can be replicated or customized in their respective countries.

Though sericulture was a fabric-centric industry, new sectors are now emerging. For instance, the sericulture sector in Thailand was pharmaceutical and cosmetic-centric. “So, a lot of product diversification has also come up,” he said.

Pharmaceutical applications of the sericulture industry have been developed in India too, and resource persons from Bengaluru and Maharashtra are expected to share their models with the overseas trainees during the training programme.

However, the Indian sericulture sector was farmer-centric and livelihood-centric. The soil-to-fabric sericulture sector has generated employment for about 94 lakh people. “This model can give maximum employment opportunity to the rural livelihood,” he said.

Mr. Sivakumar, who is also the Secretary General of the International Sericultural Commission (ISC), Bengaluru, said the number of countries that were part of the Commission had increased from 13 when India took the chair in 2013 to 2023 at present.

While each country has mastered some practice in sericulture, the objective of the ISC is to ensure that the best practices of member countries are replicated in other member countries.

Earlier, addressing the gathering, assistant secretary (Tech), CSB, and Programme Co-ordinator of ISC, Bengaluru, Padmanav Nayak pointed out that there was a huge scope for growth of sericulture in some of the African countries, where there was an availability of sufficient manpower with suitable climatic conditions.

The trainees participating in the programme will be exposed to a whole cycle of silkworm rearing and post-cocoon activities during the training programme. The knowledge and technology they learn will be more practical than theory to enable better learning outcomes, he said.

Director (Tech), CSB, Bengaluru, S. Manthira Moorthy said, “Sericulture is more practical-oriented. Hence, the training programme has been structured in such a manner that the participants derive maximum exposure.

According to a statement from CSRTI, the objectives of the training programme include assistance in the introduction and development of sericulture activities in third world countries, generation of skilled manpower in the field of sericulture, imparting training in extension management and transfer of technology, imparting training in post-cocoon technology and to enlighten the successful model of commercial sericulture practices for replicating in other developed countries.

Director In-charge of CSB-CSRTI S. Balasaraswathi, CSRTI scientist Kusuma L., and divisional chief, training division, CSB-CSRTI, Mysuru, and R. Meenal were present on the occasion.