Short of mulberry leaf, the cocoon crop falls from 25-30 kg to 15-20

Thirty women in Barhar village, Kapasia, Gazipur, have reared silkworms in bamboo-and-cane trays since 2004, in what the Silk Development Board calls the largest such project in the Dhaka and Mymensingh divisions. The worms feed on mulberry leaf picked from trees along about 3 kilometres of canal bank, and the rearers have no land of their own to plant more: some of the trees have died, and landowners have planted other perennials beside them that will shade the mulberry out as they grow. A cycle that once gave 25-30 kg of cocoons every four months now gives 15-20, and the rearers say more than 40 kg would be possible with enough leaf. The board supplies the eggs free and buys the cocoons in two grades at 350 and 400 taka a kilogram; the rearers say 350 does not pay and that at least 500 would give a decent income. The cocoons go on to the country's Benarasi weaving quarters.