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Mulberry plantation gets a fillip

BHUBANESWAR: When government officials decided to encourage sericulture in remote villages of Gajapati district through mulberry silkworm rearing in mid-1990s, their aim was to make people aware of an alternative avocation. But a decade later, their efforts had inspired a group of villagers, which were never in their radar.

About eight families of Nundruju village under Mohana Block in Gajapati district, infested by naxalites, have discarded the lucrative ganga (cannabis) cultivation to take up mulberry silkworm rearing for eking out their livelihood.

This came as a pleasant surprise for top administrators in textile department since State police had already identified cannabis cultivation as major source of funding for left wing extremists. The process of transformation began about three years ago when some villagers of remote Nundruju village came across mulberry rearing and its benefits from their relatives in Hikirima village.

In Hikirima, as many as 22 families have been generating substantial income from their agricultural land through mulberry plantation.

Mulberry is a perennial plant and once established in the field, continues to produce in full form for at least 15 years. Mulberry is also a hardy plant and can tolerate varied range of agro-climatic conditions. Its end product is silk.

“We did not know as to how residents of Nundruju got the lessons from Hikirima.

They on their own started the plantation on field, which was earlier covered with cannabis plants. When they needed technical assistance, we came forward to provide it,” Radheshyam Barik, Sericulture Extension Officer of Mohana Block, said here on Thursday.

A field officer, who knew their language, was deputed to transfer the technique of plantation to the tribal families. The villagers started mulberry cultivation on about eight acres of land.

“During the interaction, the villagers had confessed that they had always led an uncertain life for their cannabis cultivation. When they realised that taking up ganga cultivation is a crime, they shifted to mulberry rearing,” Mr. Barik said.

When drawn attention of Director of Textile ad Handlooms L. N. Nayak on the development, he said, “we were not aware of the incident. If it was true, we will certainly build up a strategy to include more such ganga cultivators in the mulberry rearing.”

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