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ReturnIndia: Spinning yarns--Turning waste into wealth
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admin
PublishDate：
2005-09-02 15:15:00
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BANGALORE: If you frequent the Mysore-Bangalore highway and are anywhere near the silk-reeling and cocoon-marketing centre of Ramnagaram — the nearby rocky landscape of which was where the movie ’Sholay’ was shot — you would sight mounds of foul-smelling dead silk pupa being discarded on the road.
The Mysore-based Central Sericultural Research & Training Institute (CSRTI), concerned with the reckless wastage of what it describes as ’brown gold’(dead pupa), has initiated a project with the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) to convert this waste into a value-added product. “Our study indicates that the waste (dead pupa) has 23% protein and 28% carbohydrate content. Dead pupa is brown gold though reelers don’t realise its potential,” Shankar Dandin, director, CSRTI, said.
Once CFTRI validates the studies of the CSRTI, it could pave the way for a massive conversion of the dead pupa matter into value — added products. The oil from the pupa can, for instance, be used as bio-fuel while the de-oiled pupa is a good nutrient addition in animal feed.
Mr Dandin says that yarn accounts for only 25% of the cocoon with the balance being the weight of the pupa. Mr Dandin and his team at CSRTI are trying to find an industrial application for mulberry pupa. The dead pupa of the eri silk is considered to be a delicacy in the north-east. Part of the problem relating to disposal of the dead pupa in Karnataka also lies in the manner in which silk is reeled here. Indian silk reeling uses green cocoon while, in other countries like China or Thailand, reelers have a preference for dry cocoon.
As production of silk cocoon is not a year-round activity in Thailand or China and is limited to at most only about three to four months, reelers in South-East Asia dry and store the cocoons for use later.
Back home, reelers buy cocoons virtually on a daily basis. As most reelers have limited reeling capacity, the fresh cocoons are stored. Since these are not dried, the pupa decays even before it is steamed and the yarn is reeled.
India is the world’s second largest producer of silk with an annual production of 15,000 tonnes, with over half of it happening in Karnataka.
