Sericulture in Rural Assam: A Key Aspect for Entrepreneurship Development

Abstract

The current global scenario certainly presents enormous opportunities for the Indian silk industry. Agriculture and agro-based industries are crucial to the growth of rural economies in developing nations such as India. Sericulture is a traditional agro-based economic activity that has historically been important in terms of job creation and income generation. Given the industry's off-farm and on-farm employment possibilities, it has the potential to offset the seasonality impact on the rural economy. The need for relatively little initial investment makes this industry more appealing to rural entrepreneurs. Mulberry, Oak Tasar, Muga, and Eri are the four different types of silk that are uniquely produced in the North East India. Assam produces more eri and muga silk than mulberry and tasar. Women are better suited to the sericulture sector because it relies heavily on in-house or off farm activities. To understand the scope of employment generation and the growth of different silk cultures in Assam a decadal analysis has been done considering the number of families engaged in sericulture and production of silk yarn from 2011-2021. It has been observed that ericulture has grown in popularity over time since it is comparatively cheap and generates more income than other forms of sericulture. Moreover the growth of sericulture industry in terms of families engaged and production of silk yarn was not always stable over the years. Price fluctuations, lack of proper market, lack of transportation and storage facilities, poor finance, lack of technology penetration, low productivity, and the industry's rural nature are the key obstacles that are holding back the industry to grow to its full potential.