Banaskantha Farmers to Benefit Soon from Sericulture Project by Turning Castor Leaves into Eri Silk

An Eri Sericulture Promotional Project will come up in Palanpur in Gujarat's Banaskantha district to help castor farmers use unutilised castor leaves to produce 'eri silk'. This will promote the sericulture industry for sustainable livelihoods, according to an official release.

Launching the project, Union Textiles Minister Giriraj Singh said Gujarat is the largest castor seed producing state in India with around 6.52 lakh hectare under castor plantation (80 per cent) assured of profitable returns with minimum expenditure to the farmer.

A further value can be added for the farmers by utilising the unutilised castor leaves (25 per cent) from the farms to produce eri silk, the minister said in a post on X. He said the initiative will help castor farmers produce silk as an additional income generating activity. This project will bring a big revolution and in future this city will be known as Silk City.

He hoped that the impact of this project would be seen in neighbouring states like Rajasthan and beyond that in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The project has been launched by the Central Silk Board, Union Ministry of Textiles, at Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University (SDAU) in Palanpur and Kalyan Foundation.

A Memorandum of Understanding was also exchanged on the occasion in the presence of Singh, Union Minister of State for Textiles Pabitra Margherita and Secretary of the Ministry of Textiles Rachna Shah and Gujarat government officials, the release added.