VALUE ADDITION TO SERICULTURE BY PRODUCTS : AN ENTERPRENEURIAL APPROACH FOR SOCIO-ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY

Transcription

1 1 VALUE ADDITION TO SERICULTURE BY PRODUCTS : AN ENTERPRENEURIAL APPROACH FOR SOCIO-ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY CHANDRASHEKHAR S., PALLAVI., C.S KALLIMANI., V.PBHARATHI AND RAMAKRISHNA NAIKA College of Sericulture, Chintmani, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore (UAS,B), Karnataka, India Abstract: Sericulture activities are highly sequential and timely in nature. By products generated from major sericultural activities play a significant role in enhancing income for the sericulturists. Appropriate technology adoptable by the farmers and replicable on a commercial scale is the need of the hour whichsustains the Sericulture industry to stand on economically sound footage. At College of Sericulture, Chintamani,UAS(B) an Incubation center for the use of Sericulture waste through value addition was funded under ( ) RKVY to develop different possible enterprenurial models with standard protocols which can be taken up easily by rural folk. By products generated at Mulberry production, silk worm rearing, silk worm seed production, Reeling stages were scientifically studied and protocols were developed.popularizing models and value added products of sericulture industry through On campus and Off campus farmer training programmes, Rural Agricultural Work Experience Programme, KrishiMela Exhibitions, Self Help Groups, and Demonstrations were conducted. Nearly 800 sericulturists were trained for taking up new ventures in valued added products. Among these, compost, vermicompost and biogas production units were more acceptable, easily adoptable and achievable at the farm level. Food stuffs like mulberry raw fruit pickle, leaf pakoda, fruit candy have become popular consumable product. About 350 designs of biocrafts developed out of cut / pierced cocoons, in which garlands, photo frames and boquets have gained the popularity. At present, 2 physically challenged groups have taken up biocraft enterprise and 2 rural enterpreneurs started vermicompost units.

2 2 Introduction: India is a country, where human power and land resources are in surplus, with three fourth of the total population living in rural areas. Nearly half of the country s national income is derived from agriculture and allied farm activities. Sericulture is one of the agro-based industry which requires small investment and simple technology and fetches high and frequent returns which makes it an ideal enterprise and fits well in to the socio-economic fabric of India and a human resource abundant economy. Sericulture industry which includes both farm and non farm activities provides employment to approximately 8.03 million persons in rural and semi urban areas ( ). Potentiality of Sericulture by products: In Inida area under mulberry during is around 2,19,819 Ha (2.19 lakh Ha) producing metric tons of cocoons with a raw silk productivity of Kg/Ha. It is estimated that lakh tons of by product interms of rearing waste is availabe from the present mulberry growing area. Where as pupa which is a major by product of reeling sector is about 1,11,481 tons available for proper value addition (Savithri., et al., 2016) India being second in population with 130 billion has huge potential of tapping human resource. Further there is need to orient and to provide proper income generating activity. Facts revealed that present day generation is of youth i.e more than 54% of Indian population is below 25 years of age. Harnessing this, particularly for rural youth of the country will definetly strengthen rural economy besides generating employment at rural sector. In this view recently (2014) Government of India has started a separate ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. Under this Ministry, one of the prime flagship programme i.e., Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana leading to India skill capital of the world. Sericulture activities are highly sequential and timely in nature. This throws challenge to all those involved in Sericulture and related activities to develop appropriate technology, adoptable by the farmers and replicable on a commercial scale. Incubation center for use of Sericulture waste through value addition established at College of Sericulture, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore under Rastriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) i.e National Agriculture Enhancement Project is a prime

3 3 programme at Indian national level for overall development of Agriculture by developing farmer centered entreprunerial activities. Present study focuses on the suitable technologies developed for value addition to Sericulture By products, dissemination of the same to farmers in developing them as entrepruners. This not only addressess employment generation to rural youth but also enables for efficient and effective utilization of Sericulture By products leading to cleaner and greener Sericulture ecosystem.besides helping Sericulture farmers to take up Sericulture activities throughout the year even under price fluctuation situation as value added to by products provides cushioning support leading to Sustainable Sericulture. Developing suitable Technology for Sericulture enterprising activities: Sericulture with a broad agricultural base is seen as an effective tool for rural development and reconstruction. There are various entrepreneurial opportunities in Sericulture industry starting from leaf to fabric production. At farm level, in the cocoon production process a lot of waste material is generated at every stage, effective utilization of the same will help in making the sericulture sector more viable, stable and create more employment opportunities besides the production of value based products. Sericulturists at his farm level can take up these entrepreneurial activities and can generate additional income. Further rural youth can take up different ventures of value added products on commercial basis. (Savithri., et al., 2016 & Arindam basu, 2015) Value addition to By products at Sericulture farm level: Mulberry and silkworm are exploited so far only for silk production in India. If sericulture industry needs to be kept alive in all parts of India, wastes generated during all sericultural activities can very well be converted in to valuable products of industrial value. Thus, in the whole cycle, a substantial quantity of residual mulberry leaves, unwanted silkworm larvae, pupae, moths and silk are available as by-products for utilization (Singhal et al., 2005). Further to workout possible value added products, by products generated at Mulberry production, silk worm rearing, silk worm seed production, Reeling stages were considered and scientifically studied. The present protocol thus developed is being popularized through farmer training programmes (till now 25trainings) like Rural Agricultural Work

4 4 Experience Programme, KrishiMela Exhibitions and Demonstrations during trainings in Chickballapur and Kolar districts of Karnataka. 1. Mulberry production: In modern era apart from using mulberry leaf for silkworm rearing activity search for alternative uses have been explored and documented. In this context mulberry leaf being highly nutritive with medicinal properties, leaf was tried out for human consumption such as Herbal mulberry tea preparation, Leaf Curry, Pakoda, Leaf flakes. a. Mulberry in human consumption: Herbal mulberry tea preparation: Mulberry tea is a natural, caffeine-free drink that is packed with vitamins and minerals and is used to prevent and treat many health conditions, including cold symptoms, weight loss, blood vessel problems and diabetes. Mulberry tea leaves contain 25 times more calcium than milk. Not only that, they have ten times more iron than spinach, and over twice the fibre of green tea. No wonder it was used in China for thousands of years as a medicinal herb! Today, it is used to prevent and treat a variety of health problems (Chinnaswamy et al., 1993) Development and standardization of protocol for Herbal Mulberry Tea The tea from mulberry leaf has been commercialized as healthy beverage in Japan, China, Thailand and in India. Central Sericultural Research and Training Institute, Central Silk Board, Mysore was licensed to produce mulberry tea, SPOORTHI. In India Seri-care company is the first to produce mulberry tea with a brand name of Seri-cha on commercial scale. Development of a herbal mulberry tea by blending with some promising medicinal herbs viz., Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera), Mint (Mentha piperita), Lemon (Citrus limon ) peel was tried with different concentration i.e. 2,4,6 and 8 grams/litre of water. Further each concentration was brewed for 2, 4, 6 and 8 minutes. This was tested for organoleptic evaluation involving 30 subjects as per the standard procedure. Finally, overall acceptance was for herbal tea prepared with Mulberry tea powder (20g), sugar (40g), Ashwagandha (2g), Mint (2g) in one litre of water brewed for 4 minutes. Further benefit to cost ratio worked to be 1:5. Leaf Curry, Pakoda, Leaf flakes :chutney made from mulberry leaves is in vogue in Manipur(India) and whole leaf fried papad in Thailand (Indian Silk,2008). In this context, Pakoda a fried product with mulberry leaves as

5 5 one of the main ingredientwas worked out. It was recorded that the use of mulberry leaves up to 20% was found effective.thus prepared Pakoda s organoleptic feedback has been taken and benefit cost ratio worked out was foundto be 1:1.17(B:C). In South India, fruits can be harvested in two seasons in a year (October- November and March-May). Whenever mulberry is pruned or defoliated in these seasons, flowering takes place together with sprouting of axillary buds followed by fruit formation. Mulberry fruit contains significant amounts of Vitamin C, dietary fiber, calcium, iron and protein (Singhal et al., 2001). Various value added products from fruit was prepared such ascandy, traditional wine, pickle, elixir, juice, jam, topping. Among these the feedback taken indicated positively for mulberry fruit pickle, juice, jam, topping, candy. 2. Rearing waste a. Compost and Vermi-compost Proper soil management ensuring continued maintenance and building up of soil fertility are indispensable for better productivity and for avoiding loss of sericultural production. In sericulture lot of wastes are generated throughout the year due to silkworm rearing and mulberry cultivation. These wastes can easily be recycled in to good organic manure through composting (C S Kallimani 1998) and (Choudhaury et al., 1993) In this process two products are obtained viz., the vermicasts and the earthworms biomass. Vermicasts can be used as compost while earthworm biomass as a substitute for proteins, food for the livestock and aquaculture. It is an eco-friendly technology and composting of the sericulture waste can be done quickly. Dried castings can be conveniently packed and sold. The vermicasts can be conveniently coated with bio-fertilizers and applied to the field. The silkworm larval litter, generated by feeding mulberry leaves from one acre, will be around 1,000 kg on the feed stock equivalent and this can replace the feedstock from one cattle. In addition, this nitrogen rich waste is a possible supplement to the nitrogen deficient agricultural wastes that are put into the plant for biogas generation. The quantity of gas produced per gram of total solid destroyed over 6 weeks period is maximum in cow dung + silkworm larval litter incorporated treatment (2,450 cc) compared to cow

6 6 dung alone (1,910 cc) and silkworm larval litter alone (1,917 cc). Thus the silkworm larval litter can be used as a supplementary feedstock in biogas production (Chinnaswamy K.P. et al., 1998). b. Increased manurial value of digested Biogas slurry by using Silkworm litter The manurial value of the bio-digested slurry is also increased due to the incorporation of silkworm larval litter (Nagarajan, P et al., 1989) Nitrogen content of the slurry in silkworm larval litter incorporated treatments ranges from 2.01 to 2.67 per cent against 1.65 per cent in cow dung incorporated treatment. Phosphorous content varies from 0.92 to 0.97 per cent and potash content from 1.04 to 1.36 per cent. c. Livestock maintenance : Sheep/ Goat rearing, Rabbit Mulberry is fast growing and high biomass generating plant, utilization of left over leaves during rearing, side branches unfit for silkworm rearing and fresh rearing waste (top layer shoot feeding waste) is tried as animal feed for Sheep / goat and feeding small ruminents i.e Rabbit and also using such biomass for preparation of silage and feed acceptance was worked out. 3. Reeling Byproduct In commercial cocoon production, cocoons are used for silk reeling, in this process pupa inside the cocoon gets killed during cocoon stifling / cooking stage. It is known fact that for every 100kg of cocoon, nearly 70-80kg of dead pupa is obtained which can be dried (35 kg) and used as a feed for poultry and fish culturing. In this view, different feed ratio of commercially available poultry feed and pupal powder was experimented for poultry rearing. Among which 50:50 gave the better results. Similarly, different ratios of pupal powder with commercial feed was explored and 30:70 ratio was found to be good. 4. Grainage by product: In Sericulture the cocoons are commercially produced for two purposes one is mainly for reeling the silk which is the primary and most important commercail product of the industry and the other i.e grainage where in egg production activity is carried out where in we come across these cut/pierced cocoons which mainly used as raw material for spun silk industry. A quantity of 28 tons of Bivoltine and multivoltine cut/pierced cocoons are

7 7 available annually for disposal (NSSO tender notification 2014). Apart from this bulk of waste cocoons Registred Seed Producers (RSP) and Government Model Grainages who contribute for more than 80 % of seed production in India is also available for use. Presently it is being observed that only 2% of these cut/pierced cocoons are being used for making handicrafts still bulk of it is readily available for exploration. (Vijayendra, et al., 2014, 2016) It is estimated that for production of one lakh disease free laying a quantity of 4.25 lakh bi-voltine cocoons are required and out of which 163 kg cut cocoon is obtained (Nazeer Ahmed et al., 2012). Handicrafts from waste cocoons can easily be converted into a fulltime enterprise taking into account of capital initiatives, expertise available, market demand and setting up of sale outlets etc. However, any person/family from a teenage to an aged, irrespective of gender can take up this activity as a source of secondary income even during leisure period as well (Manna et al., 2011). Importance of Cocoon crafts: Handicrafts from unused i.e cut / pierced cocoons is emerging as one of the rural enterprise These cocoons are natural, cost effective, eco-friendly Suits well for Rural youth, women and Differently abled (disabled) This activity helps to develop entreprunership besides skill development Provides rural employment leading to economic stability, escalates societal status, avoids migration to urban areas Realizing the importance and potentiality of value addition to the cut/pierced cocoons a separate training cum demonstration unit was established at college of sericulture, Chintamani in Since then the unit has trained students, women, physically differently able people and also children. This unit has emerged as creative, recreation centre by providing equal opportunities to learn and to express their creativity. This has resulted in developing various range of productsbesides earning decent income. About 350 designs of biocrafts developed out of cut / pierced cocoons, in which garlands, photo frames and boquets have gained the popularity.at present, 2 physically challenged groups have taken up biocraft enterprise and 2 rural enterpreneurs started vermicompost units.

8 8 Impact of value added by products of Sericulture as enterpreneurship Nearly 800 sericulturists were undergone training on various preparation of value added products. Among these, value added compost, vermicompost and biogas prepared using rearing waste were found tobe more acceptable.easily adoptable and achievable technology at the farm level was developed thus augmenting the quality manurial requirment for mulberry leaf production.efficient recycling of the rearing waste leading to zero waste generation ther by reducing the dependency of external inputs leading to reduction in cost of cocoon production. Sericulturists were unaware about the nutritive value of mulberry leaf and fruit for human consumption. Awarenes on the same was created and edible Food stuffs like mulberry raw fruit pickle, leaf pakoda, fruit candy have become popular consumable product. Bio-crafts from pierced cocoons is emerging as better means for value addition, employment generation, interior beautificationand a boon for weaker sections of the society (physically disabled, mentally retarded and aged) to lead independent life. The eye catching art of crafting waste / cut cocoons is one of the economical utility which develops human skills besides providing self-employment. If this is considered seriously the silk industry will not be a profession only for silk but, in a broader sense for a larger community of the mankind providing money round the year for their comforts. References: Arindam Basu, 2015, Advances in Silk Science and Technology. Woodhead Publishing Series in Textiles Pp: C.S Kallimani Bioconversaion of Sericultre wastes using Edrilus eugeniae (Kinberg) and Phenerochaete chrysosporium.1998, M.Sc Thesis submitted to Department of Sericulture, College of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad. Chinnaswamy, K. P. and Hari Prasad, K. B., (1998) Utilization of mulberry crop residue as fuel food. Indian silk, 37: Chinnaswamy, K. P., Doreswamy, C., Devaiah, M. C. and Venkatesha, M., (1993) Pharmaceutical value of mulberry. Indian silk, p Choudhury, P.C., Das, P. K., Asis Ghosh., Mishra, R. K. and Datta, R. K., (1993) Recycling technology of Sericultural Waste as

9 Compost. Indian silk, p Manna S.S, Kar N.B, Gupta P.D Bajpai A.K. Silk handicrafts for additional income. 2011, IndianSilk, 1:22-24 Nazeer Ahmed Saheb S, Mir Nisar Ahmed, Anil Dhar. Cocoon Handicrafts ASource ofadditional income. 2012, In: Proceedings of national seminar on cutting edge technologies in vanya silk research. Department of Sericulture, STSN Government College, Kadiri;. P Nagarajan, P., Rajashekaran, P., Radha, N.V. and Jayaraj, S. (1989) Supplementation of silkworm larval litter for biogas generation. Indian silk, p Savithri G., Sujathamma P., Neeraja P.Sericulture Industry An overview. 2016, Book published by Agrobios. Pp: Singhal B.K., Anil Dhar, Khan M.A and Bindroo B.B Utilization of Sericultural Byproducts anurgent need for sustainable Sericulture. 2005, In: Proress of research in Organic Sericulture and Seri Byproduct Utilization. P: Singhal, B. K., Dhar., Anil., Sharma., Aradhana., Quadri, S. M. H. and ASHAN, M. M., (2001) Sericultural by-products for various Valuable commercial products as emerging bioscience industry. Sericologia, 41: Vijayendra M., C.S Kallimani, Ramakrishna Naika and Pallavi. Bio-crafts from piearced Cocoons: means for value addition, employement generation andinterior beautification.2014lead paper published in national conference on Sericulture for Livelihood Security Pp: Vijayendra M., C.S Kallimani and Ramakrishna Naika. (2016) Handicrafts from unused cocoons pave the way for rural socio-economic properity. In: Proceedings on Trends for Advancement of Sericulture, held from January, 2016 at SK University, Anatapur. 9

10 10 Pictorial map of Incubation Center Students Hands on learning Stall feeding with Mulberry Seri. Bio-gas production Unit

11 11 Hands on Training on Bio-crafts Hands on learning on Vermicomposting Value added Sericulture By Products exhibition