Natural silk agroindustry in Wajo Regency

Abstract

Indonesia’s demand for natural silk is quite high for each year, reaching around 200 tons of raw silk threads and 250 tons of spun silk threads, but domestic production of raw silk threads has only reached 110 tons. This shows that Natural Silk has great potential to be developed, especially in South Sulawesi. This business is generally home industry which is relatively easy to work with, simple technology, labor-intensive, fast production, and high economic value. The research was conducted in Wajo Regency in 6 sub-districts of natural silk development. The time for collecting data and information to be used in this study was planned for March - October 2019. The type of data used is primary data and data (collected through field observations followed by direct interviews with 25 entrepreneurs using a questionnaire. The data collected is then analyzed. using the quantitative descriptive analysis to confirm the analysis. Increasing the production of mulberry plants in Wajo is needed for the long term not only as a food ingredient for silkworms but also as a biopharma plant or a mixture of cosmetic ingredients. However, improvements are needed in the quality of cocoon products as well as more advanced technological inputs and capacity building for farmers and their institutions.