Some important facts on silk Industry

1. India produces all the four varieties of silk, viz. mulberry, tassar, eri and muga.

2. The synthetic silk produced by Japan and Italy, being less expensive has been in competition with pure silk.

3. Sericulture is the art of rearing silkworms for silk production.

4. It is an important industry as it provides employment to people in rural areas.

5. The areas of production of natural silk are Karnataka, West Bengal, Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.

6. Karnataka produces only mulberry silk and accounts for 70% of the silk production. The reasons for the concentration of the silk industry in Karnataka are:

(a) Availability of the silkworm ‘Bombyxmori’ and the mulberry plant throughout the year.

(6) The climate is favourable for rearing of silkworm.

(c) Availability of alkaline free water.

(d) Introduction of modern technology of rearing of silkworms.

7. Non Mulberry silk is produced in Assam, Bihar, Orissa and Meghalaya.

8. Tussar is produced in Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.

Muga silk is known as ‘pat’ in Assam.

9. Silk weaving centres are:

U.P. – Varanasi, Mirzapur

Tamil Nadu – Salem, Tiruchirapalli.

Bihar – Bhagalpur

Maharashtra – Pune, Solapur and Nagpur

West Bengal – Murshidabad

Karnataka – Bangalore, Belgaum.