Question : MSP for Sericulture

(a) whether Sericulture is a major source of livelihood for crores of people in our country including Karnataka;

(b) if so, the percentage of people dependent on the Sericulture cultivation, State-wise;

(c) whether under the existing guidelines, the Sericulture cultivation and Cocoon are
not included under Minimum Support Price Scheme;

(d) if so, whether Sericulture farmers are at great distress as the prices of cocoon are unpredictable and most of the times they don''t even get cost of expenditure,
and if so, the details thereof; and

(e) whether the Government has any proposal to bring Sericulture and Cocoon under the ambit of Minimum Support Price (MSP), if so, the details thereof, and if not, the reasons therefor?

MINISTER OF TEXTILES
(SMT. SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

(a) & ( b): Yes, Madam. The State-wise employment generation details including their percentage are given in Annexure I.

(c) & (d): Yes, Madam. Sericulture is not covered under the Minimum Support Price Scheme. At present, Sericulture farmers are not in distress as Cocoon prices are good.

The major Sericulture States namely, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh provide price support incentive for the growers to mitigate the loss incurred due to price crash. The Government of India is also providing support for establishment of Multi-end Reeling units and Automatic Reeling Machines in the country to create better market avenues for Cocoons so as to stabilize the price of Cocoons.

(e): At present, there is no proposal to include Sericulture and Cocoons under Minimum Support Price (MSP) regime because Cocoons are perishable in nature and green Cocoons are available throughout the year.






Annexure-I

State-wise employment generation under sericulture sector


# State Working age population
(Million No) Employment
Generation in Sericulture*
(Million No.) % of population employed in
Sericulture
1 Andhra Pradesh & Telangana 58.50 0.86 1.47
2 Arunachal Pradesh 0.87 0.02 2.30
3 Assam 16.74 1.98 11.83
4 Bihar 63.73 0.03 0.05
5 Chhattisgarh 17.29 0.12 0.69
6 Himachal Pradesh 4.59 0.01 0.22
7 Jammu & Kashmir 9.03 0.02 0.22
8 Jharkhand 19.75 1.06 5.37
9 Karnataka 43.54 1.62 3.72
10 Madhya Pradesh 47.72 0.05 0.10
11 Maharashtra 76.04 0.05 0.07
12 Mizoram 0.69 0.01 1.46
13 Orissa 27.97 0.05 0.18
14 Tamil Nadu 50.67 0.31 0.61
15 Tripura 2.30 0.01 0.43
16 Uttar Pradesh 128.29 0.06 0.05
17 West Bengal 60.57 0.41 0.68
18 India 819.41 8.25 1.01
Note: *The employment generation includes all the activities involved in cocoon production to making of finished goods.
[Source: Directorate of Sericulture of the concerned State Governments]

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