Sericulture in Jammu and Kashmir- A Review

Abstract

Sericulture is considered as an age old occupation in Jammu and Kashmir. J&K has enormous potential for silk production empowering the farmers of J&K by increasing their income and employment (Dar et al., 2021).The raw silk produced in J&K is recognized across the globe. The size of land holding is less for sericulture activity compared to horticulture and agroforesrty. Farmers from about 20 districts of J&K take sericulture as the subsidiary occupation. Spring season crop (May-June) is the main crop in this region followed by second crop during September- October (Chouhan et al., 2016). Important mulberry varieties cultivated are Goshoerami, Ichinose, KNG, Kukusou 21, Sujanpur and Chak Majra (Shabnam et al., 2016). Silkworm races of commercial importance are DUN22, NB4D2, SK6, SKUAST-31, CSR18 and DUN6 (Buhroo et al., 2017). Sericulture is taken as a subsidiary occupation by about 33,000 rural households in J&K. Most of these families are economically backward and sericulture plays a crucial role for their livelihood. In order to empower these farm families productivity and quality of cocoons need to be improved by applying scientific package of practices. (Bhat et al., 2020). Inadequacy of mulberry leaves and lack of awareness on scientific technologies, ineffective marketing strategies are the hurdles for the progress of sericulture industry in J&K.