OREANDA-NEWS. April 08, 2010. In Turkmenistan the spring season of the cocoon production campaign was launched on the last decade of March when the first soft leaves appeared of mulberry shoots started to sprout. From this day the farmers associations turn into the so-called ‘home factories’ producing raw silk for dynamically developing textile industry over the entire campaign period.

High-quality silkworm eggs which were recovered in the incubators was distributed among the silkworm breeding associations of the Turkmenyupek JSC in accordance with the agreements signed between the Ministry of Textile Industry and the velayat khyakimliks.

To reap rich harvests of raw cocoons the representatives of the Ministry and the joint-stock company in close collaboration with the leading specialists of the Turkmen Agricultural University conducted on-site consultations with farmers-silkworm breeders.

The silkworm breeding campaign is in full swing in Ahal, Mary and Lebap Velayats. It will start later in the northern region of the country due to the natural and climatic conditions. The etrap cocoon plants and processing enterprises are ready for receiving cocoons.

The large-scale reforms have been launched in silk industry of Turkmenistan. The leading processing enterprises in the country – the Ashgabat silk-spinning factory and Turkmenabat Silk Production Association , which were reconstructed and supplied with state-of-the-art equipment, produce high-quality silk thread at the request of consumers. The new shops producing silk carpets, national fabric keteni and other silk materials and articles were opened at the enterprises. Silk fibre ensures the effective operation of the Ruhabat factory producing panne velvet – the beautiful fabric, which is very popular among women all over the world.

The needs of private producers in our country in silk fibre have considerably increased. Foreign partners from the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Afghanistan, China, the United States, Pakistan, India, Great Britain and the CIS countries increased the purchases of natural raw silk, which meets the international quality standards.

A critical role is assigned to the development of silk industry in the context of the state policy of encouragement and support for entrepreneurship in rural areas. Through implementing the reforms in the agro-industry sector and the comprehensive rural development programme initiated by President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov the tasks of broadening a range and increasing production of agricultural products, creating new jobs and earning additional income by rural people are successfully fulfilled.

The critical factors in the further expansion of silk industry include the development of mulberry growing – food reserves for silkworm caterpillars. Each year hundreds of thousands of mulberry trees are grown in the nursery gardens and farmers associations and then distributed among farms. In the future these saplings will form new mulberry plantations which will allow produce the substantial amount of forage. Mulberry trees planted on the edge of fields will protect the plantations of cotton and other agricultural crops from the hot winds, consolidate the banks of irrigation canals and promote achieving the environmental wellbeing in the region. All this enable to combine silkworm breeding with cotton growing and receive additional products and benefit from one field.

The task-oriented measures taken by the Government to support silk production in the country enabled to considerably increase the production of cocoons and raw silk thus opening up the vast opportunities to develop this age-old trade which is revived nowadays.