Bangalore: India has suggested the adoption of a code of conduct among participating countries in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to check unhealthy competition and dumping of silk yarn and fabrics by producing nations.

"Even though the WTO era has opened up the market, there should be a certain code of conduct among the participating countries in order to take care of the interests of developing countries, particularly the farmer community and workers below the poverty line who are dependant on the sericulture industry," H. Hanumanthappa, Chairman, Central Silk Board, said at the inauguration of the 20th Congress of the International Sericultural Commission (ISC) that began here on Thursday.

He said the ISC must take note of these basic requirements of developing countries during deliberations and come out with recommendations and a code of conduct among participating countries in the WTO.

Sericulture must be brought under the crop insurance scheme to cover losses arising from the vagaries of the monsoon and drought as well as mortality of silkworms due to epidemic diseases. The Government should also consider bringing the sericulture industry under the market intervention mechanism and fixation of minimum support prices, he stated.

Demand-supply gap

With India producing just around 1,000 tonnes of bivoltine silk annually, there is a wide gap between demand and supply. "To boost production of bivoltine silk, scientists of the Central Silk Board and technical officers of various departments of Sericulture in the States should work together and come out with races/breeds that fit into the farmers' requirement of economy. Besides, the package of practices should be acceptable to them in terms of cost-benefit ratio," Mr. Hanumanthappa said.

Gerard Chavancy, Secretary-General, ISC, urged India to take advantage of the bivoltine technology package provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to raise production of bivoltine silk.

"So far, India was producing only multivoltine silk as bivoltine sericulture is difficult in tropical countries since it is sensitive to high temperature and diseases. But, with the JICA project, bivoltine silk production is possible in India. I hope it will grow in the future because bivoltine gives better silk and higher productivity," he said.

Governor T.N. Chaturvedi said the fruits of research must reach farmers and others who are concerned with the silk industry and production. "Otherwise, the purpose of research will not be served," he noted.

`Invest in reeling sector'

Sericulture Minister C. Chennigappa urged the private sector to invest in silk reeling to produce silk of global standards.

"The scientific fraternity has the onus of giving to the farmers new races of silkworms and new high-yielding varieties of mulberry that can withstand the vagaries of the monsoon and climatic conditions. The scientists should also develop simpler and more economic technologies to help bring in quantitative and qualitative improvements and herald a new silk revolution," he told the delegates.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu