Economics of Sericulture in Assam

Abstract

The age-old agro-based sericulture activities have been playing an important role in the generation of employment and income in a slowly progressing economy of Assam. Though all the four major varieties of silk, namely, eri, muga, mulberry and tasar are grown in Assam, the first two occupy the prime positions in the sericulture scenario of the state. Mulberry is also one of the traditional activities, but it has lost much of its competitiveness in recent times and tasar is a recent introduction and still at an infant stage. There has been a significant change in the relative position of each sericulture activity in terms of generation of employment and income and popularity among the people. The present article tries to make a comparative assessment of different silk cultures in Assam, namely, eri, muga and mulberry as a source of employment and income. It is observed that ericulture over the years has become more popular among the people, as it is still cheap and it yields more revenue to the family farms than the other sericulture activities. Though muga is very popular to a certain section of population and yield more net profit per unit of investment, its undertaking requires more capital and also it involves more risk compared to the other ventures.