Karnataka sets up panel to look into cocoon price crash

B D Narayankar

Press Trust of India

Bangalore, Nov 21: Karnataka Chief Minister D V
Sadananda Gowda today announced setting up of a committee
comprising silk farmers and officials to study the reasons
that led to a crash in prices of cocoon in the state.
Cocoon prices have plummeted to Rs 30-40 per kg from Rs
150-170 per kg.
The committee would submit its report in a month's time,
he told reporters after meeting sericulture farmers here.
"Soon after the committee submitts report, I would meet
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to sort out the problem of
crashing cccoon prices," Gowda said.
Labour and Sericulture Minister B N Bache Gowda on
November 10 had blamed north India's silk traders lobby for
the price cash, accusing it of forcing the Centre to reduce
import duty on silk from 31 per cent to 5 per cent in the
last year's budget.
Gowda said Pranab Mukherjee, who wrote a letter to Bache
Gowda, has also defended the north India silk traders' demand
to reduce import duty on silk.
The state government recently assured sericulture farmers
that they would get a threshold price of Rs 160 per kg of
cocoon.
Sericulture farmers staged a protest on Bangalore-Mysore
road in Channapatna and Ramnagar last Sunday and blocked the
movement of vehicles for several hours.
Karnataka accounts for almost half of the country's silk
production and an estimated 8.15 lakh people depend on
sericulture and allied activities for their livelihood.
Mulberry cultivation is spread across 62,697 hectares.