LAHORE: The Punjab Forest Department is taking steps to revive and strengthen the province’s declining sericulture sector with the aim of boosting local silk output and reducing the country’s heavy dependence on imported silk worth Rs112 billion annually.
Sericulture has been practiced for decades in Punjab’s rural areas, providing a vital source of livelihood to thousands of families despite facing numerous challenges. Over 4,000 households, including nearly 4,000 women, are currently engaged in silkworm farming in Punjab.
Farooq Bhatti, Deputy Director of Sericulture at the Punjab Forest Department, told Wealth Pakistan that silkworm farming in Punjab runs in two main seasons, January to April and September to October. “Silkworms feed on mulberry leaves. That is why this cottage industry thrives in areas where mulberry tree plantations exist,” he said.
Currently, mulberry plants cover about 400 acres across Punjab, with the Changa Manga forest alone having around 150 acres of plantations, followed by 60 acres in Chichawatni. Other areas with mulberry cultivation include Mandi Bahauddin, Kamalia, Rajana, Toba Tek Singh, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Peerowal, and Bahawalpur.
Farooq said that until the 1980s, Pakistan ranked 12th among natural silk-producing countries in the world, but local production later declined as imported cocoons from India and Central Asia replaced domestic output. He pointed out that the textile industry now imports both synthetic and natural silk yarn worth Rs112 billion each year. “By promoting local production of natural silk, a considerable portion of foreign exchange can be saved,” he emphasized.
To strengthen the sector, he suggested that the Punjab government should upgrade its sericulture wing into a non-timber forest products directorate, following the example of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh. “This would allow integration of sericulture with other non-timber forest products such as medicinal plants and apiculture (beekeeping),” he said.
Currently, local silk is first purchased by middlemen from farmers and later sold to textile mills after conversion into yarn. To create better opportunities for women in the sector, the Punjab Forest Department has launched a leaf-plucking programme. Under this initiative, some companies buy mulberry leaves from women silkworm farmers and supply them to pharmaceutical firms. Women are issued permits by the department to sell mulberry leaves at around Rs1,000 per 40 kilograms. If dried during the daytime, the same leaves can fetch up to Rs5,000 per 40 kilograms.
Farooq told Wealth Pakistan that the replacement of mulberry trees with eucalyptus in the Changa Manga forest during the 1990s caused serious damage to sericulture by reducing the availability of mulberry leaves.
Farmers see major potential if local seed multiplication and affordable credit facilities are introduced. “A family can earn around Rs50,000 by rearing silkworms from just one packet of seed,” Rana Saeed Anwar, President of the All-Punjab Silk Farmer and Trader Association, told Wealth Pakistan. He urged the government to help farmers acquire silk reeling machines so they could convert cocoons into silk yarn themselves instead of relying on middlemen.
He said boosting mulberry plantations, ensuring easy access to quality silkworm seed, introducing microfinance and providing reeling technology can help transform Punjab’s sericulture industry. He said the revival of local silk production would not only enhance rural incomes but also cut the country’s silk import bill and preserve a centuries-old craft.
