Allocation of spl fund to save Rajshahi silk industry sought
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
Our Correspondent
RAJSHAHI, May 12: Speakers at a view-exchange meeting, jointly organised by Barendra Unnayan Prochesta (BUP) and Reshom Shilpa Sangrakkhan Committee (silk industry preservation committee) at GDRC Institution have demanded special allocation of fund in the next budget for saving the traditional silk industries of Rajshahi.
Presided over by Ataur Rahman, president of Rajshahi Silk Industries Workers' Union, the meeting was attended, among others, by Monjur Faruque Chowdhury, president of Bangladesh Silk Industries Owners' Association, Liakat Ali, its former president, Jamat Khan, convener of Rajshahi Rakkha Sangram Parishad and grassroots-level silk cultivators.
Rashed Ripon, co-ordinator of BUP, presented an article on 'Silk Industries in Rajshahi' in the meeting.
The article gave details on silk cultivation, providing food to the silk worms and preparing yarn from silk cocoons, etc.
The climate of Rajshahi is very suitable for rearing silk worms. Millions of families in the Rajshahi region can be provided with jobs of silk worm rearing and cultivation.
There is a tremendous demand for silk at home and abroad and by utilising silk cultivators and supplying them with required inputs, the silk industries of the country can be rejuvenated and thus poverty can be removed from the region.
Monjur Faruque Chowdhury said Rajshahi silk can contribute to the world market if silk farmers are provided with required technical knowledge and support.
He further said Bangladesh can easily compete with China in the world silk market if the government assists the silk farmers.
He said the Chinese silk farmers can produce 2,000 yards of silk yarn from a single silk cocoon.
On the contrary, only 600 yards of yarn are produced from a cocoon in Bangladesh.
Furthermore, the Chinese yarn is much stronger and dyeing and printing can be done easily with the yarn, he said further.
Moreover, the government has abolished import duty on silk yarn. As a result, locally-made silk yarn is losing its edge in the competitive market.
As a result, many silk farmers are giving up their ancestral profession.
Once there were thousands of silk farmers in Bagha upazila of the district but now only a few of them are running their ancestral profession.
In the situation, the silk farmers in Rajshahi have demanded immediate government intervention to save the traditional silk industry from ruin.
RAJSHAHI, May 12: Speakers at a view-exchange meeting, jointly organised by Barendra Unnayan Prochesta (BUP) and Reshom Shilpa Sangrakkhan Committee (silk industry preservation committee) at GDRC Institution have demanded special allocation of fund in the next budget for saving the traditional silk industries of Rajshahi.
Presided over by Ataur Rahman, president of Rajshahi Silk Industries Workers' Union, the meeting was attended, among others, by Monjur Faruque Chowdhury, president of Bangladesh Silk Industries Owners' Association, Liakat Ali, its former president, Jamat Khan, convener of Rajshahi Rakkha Sangram Parishad and grassroots-level silk cultivators.
Rashed Ripon, co-ordinator of BUP, presented an article on 'Silk Industries in Rajshahi' in the meeting.
The article gave details on silk cultivation, providing food to the silk worms and preparing yarn from silk cocoons, etc.
The climate of Rajshahi is very suitable for rearing silk worms. Millions of families in the Rajshahi region can be provided with jobs of silk worm rearing and cultivation.
There is a tremendous demand for silk at home and abroad and by utilising silk cultivators and supplying them with required inputs, the silk industries of the country can be rejuvenated and thus poverty can be removed from the region.
Monjur Faruque Chowdhury said Rajshahi silk can contribute to the world market if silk farmers are provided with required technical knowledge and support.
He further said Bangladesh can easily compete with China in the world silk market if the government assists the silk farmers.
He said the Chinese silk farmers can produce 2,000 yards of silk yarn from a single silk cocoon.
On the contrary, only 600 yards of yarn are produced from a cocoon in Bangladesh.
Furthermore, the Chinese yarn is much stronger and dyeing and printing can be done easily with the yarn, he said further.
Moreover, the government has abolished import duty on silk yarn. As a result, locally-made silk yarn is losing its edge in the competitive market.
As a result, many silk farmers are giving up their ancestral profession.
Once there were thousands of silk farmers in Bagha upazila of the district but now only a few of them are running their ancestral profession.
In the situation, the silk farmers in Rajshahi have demanded immediate government intervention to save the traditional silk industry from ruin.