PRADAN’s Sericulture Programme in Bihar and Jharkhand: Impact Assessment

Commissioned by PRADAN to understand the impact of the sericulture programme on primary producers at different levels of the value chain and the value chain itself, this study covered primary producers from five districts (Banka, Godda, Dumka, Saraikela and Bhagalpur) of Bihar and Jharkhand and the key stakeholders from various government and non-government organizations. In this extract, the focus is on the impact on primary producers.

I nitiated in 1987, the tasar programme of PRADAN has, over the years, been extended to every level of the value chain, from seed production to marketing of the fabric. The programme has established institutions at each level of the value chain, to cater to the needs of the participating families at that level and also to provide backward and forward linkages. The achievements of the programme, include, among others, the production of 57 lakh commercial disease-free layings (DFLs) 5.33 lakh basic dfls and 24.90 crore of cocoons (total production of cocoons: 31.5 crore, nucleus cocoon-272 lakh, seed cocoon-386 lakh and commercial cocoon-2492 lakh.) All these production data is between 2004 to 2010. In addition, there have been a number of technical interventions/innovations at different levels of the value chain such as the introduction of improved tasar eggs, (commercial DFLs, basic DFLs and nucleus DFLs) domestication of tasar hot trees and the improvement of reeling machines. There also have been a number of organizational innovations in the value chain such as the setting up of private DFL producers, who can maintain quality levels, and the development of yarn producer organizations at the village level.