Sericulture Technology: A Means to Economic Empowerment of Women

Sericulture is an agro-based, labour intensive, foreign exchange earning commercial activity. It has been considered as an excellent medium for generating employment for women and for poverty alleviation. Sericulture not only empowers the women but also provides excellent self-employment opportunities to the educated youth including women from the rural community. In recent past sericulture scientists developed improved tropical sericulture technologies and designed improved reeling devices to accomplish good quality of silk and high productivity. Central Silk Board (CSB), Bangalore under the Ministry of Textiles, Govt of India is taking continuous efforts in Research and Development and Technology Transfer in different sectors of sericulture viz., mulberry cultivation, production and distribution of healthy silkworm seed, production of quality cocoons and raw silk and promotion of silk marketing. Adoption of new technology in sericulture is must because, it can make the enterprise more remunerative, though the production has gone up faster over the last several years as a result of improved management triggered by the release of high yielding varieties both at mulberry and sericulture sector, there is wide gap in the potentiality of increase in yield at the research station and the actual yield achieved by the farmers. In case of women, who constitute a major portion of silk industry, access to latest innovations has become beyond their reach. Hence this study is an attempt to understand the hindrances that are preventing women from access to science and technology, its consequences and remedies.