Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Monday stressed on bridging the gap between cocoon production and yarn production in the State, which is the second largest eri cocoon producer, globally generating approximately 700 metric tonnes of eri cocoon annually. Speaking at the inauguration of Sai Lum, an Eri Yarn Manufacturing Unit at Bhoirymbong in Ri Bhoi district, Sangma said that despite being the second largest eri cocoon producer, farmers were selling cocoons at low prices while weavers were forced to buy back the same yarn at a high cost because the critical step of spinning was happening elsewhere.
“The cocoon to yarn gap has been the single biggest constraint in our Eri silk value chain,” he said and added that entrepreneurship enterprises like Sai Lum will bridge cocoon production and yarn production. The Chief Minister also said that Ri-Bhoi is the epicenter of silk production in the state with nearly 7,900 silkworm rearers and 4,760 weavers yet, for years, the returns have not matched the effort and highlighted the government’s endeavor in building the silk sector of the state.
Sai Lum is the vision of a young local entrepreneur, Wallambok Pyngrope. The total project cost is Rs 1.20 crore with support from PRIME Meghalaya and from NECTAR besides the entrepreneur’s own investment. The unit has spinning capacity of 25 to 30 kg of quality Eri yarn per day with 7.5 MT of yarn annually. The unit procures Eri cocoons directly from local farmers at fair, stable prices – eliminating the uncertainty farmers have lived with for years.
It also processes cocoons into quality Eri yarn and supplies it affordably to local weaving clusters reducing the input burden on weavers and stabilising pricing across the value chain, reducing dependence on middlemen and outside procurement. Ten to 15 direct jobs have been created at the unit-skilled positions in spinning, quality control, procurement and operations.
While 7000 cocoon producing farmers across Ri-Bhoi will now have a guaranteed, fair local buyer, removing the distress of selling at low prices; 2500 weavers will gain access to affordable, locally produced quality yarn, lowering input costs and increasing margins with total indirect beneficiaries of over 9500 across the Eri silk value chain. Sai Lum aims to produce the yarn that the weaver needs and creating the livelihoods that make this ecosystem self-sustaining.