Sericulture: An Economic Boon for Madhya Pradesh (special reference to Burhanpur District)

Economic development essentially bears a directly proportional relation with income and employment of a country. In fact the policy makers of any country always focus on this issue and adopt several measures to generate employment. Sericulture is one of such on-farm and off-farm activity which has the potential to generate employment to numerous low skilled rural people in India. Moreover, the final consumers of the silk fabric and goods are affluent sections of the society. Thus production and sales of silk goods ultimately help the economy to reduce the inequality among society. Madhya Pradesh is a non-traditional silk producing state in India which has immense potential to uplift sericulture activities. However, a proper and regular monitoring by State and Central Silk Board is required to elevate the industry in desired direction. The present paper is an empirical study that focuses on the growth rate of raw silk productivity in Madhya Pradesh. The paper highlights the involvement of enterprising sericulture farmers in mulberry plantation and cocoons production and its impact on development of sericulture in Burhanpur District of Madhya Pradesh. The study observes that within a short span of time the state has improved its productivity in sericulture through making awareness campaign to the seri-farmers so that boon of upgraded technology can be communicated. The sericulture sector in Burhanpur is thus expected to improve the socio-economic life of the rural farmers