Sericulture Project Report, Cost, Profit, Economics

Sericulture is a method in which the silk is reared from the silkworm cocoon. This process is also called silk reeling. Sericulture combines agriculture and also industry. The silkworms are being cultivated in this process. There are many species of silkworms, which are used for commercial purpose, but the caterpillar of the silkworm, which is domesticated (also called as Bombyx Mori) is the silkworm which is widely in use.

Advantages of Sericulture:

Starting a Silkworm farm:

Starting a silkworm farm is a very important part of sericulture. There should be great care and proper management. Based on the number of broods, they are categorized as below:

The silkworm is very suitable in tropical climates because the mulberry plant will go well in the regions which have tropical climatic conditions and give a good yield all around the year.

Silkworm Rearing Types:

Depending on the age of the silkworm, the silkworm rearings are classified into two types. The life cycle of a silkworm will have to go through five instars. It is your choice to choose until which stage you want to rear your silkworm.

  1. Chawki Rearing: If the rearing of the silkworm is done till the third instar stage, then that kind of rearing is called chawki rearing or young age worm rearing. This stage is more prone to diseases which is why proper care has to be taken at this stage.
  2. Late Age Worm Rearing: If the rearing of the silkworm is done from the third instar stage to the fifth instar stage, then that kind of rearing is called late age worm rearing.

Brushing and Incubation:

The environmental conditions should be proper while rearing the silkworm and proper care has to be taken. The temperature should be between 24 – 27 degrees Celsius with relative humidity between 84% to 85%.

By following the above environmental conditions, the hatching would take place in a uniform way with two weeks from the day the eggs were first laid.

The egg will be brushed to the rearing bed as soon as the larva comes out it. Then the leaves should be cut to a size of 1 cm each and should be spread on the bed. The leaves which are under the one which has come out lately can be used as a feed. One should make sure that the rearing bed is always clean.

Moulting:

Moulting is nothing but the shedding of the skin, which is old, and the formation of the new skin. During this stage, the temperature conditions should be between 23 – 25 degrees Celsius and the relative humidity should be between 64% to 70%. When the silkworm gets through the second instar, it goes through the stage of moulting. The third instar is the stage which is the most critical one and it occurs between young age worm rearing and late age worm rearing.

Late age worm rearing:

This stage starts after the third instar. In this stage, the worms feed on more leaves. Before this stage gets started, the rearing room should be made clean along with the equipment. The equipment should be cleaned in such a way that it gets rid of all the disinfectants. The leaves which are harvested should have less moisture content and the carbohydrate content of the fibers should also be less. In this late age stage, it should have the environmental conditions which are controlled and you can have a look at those below.

Pre-Cocoon process:

From 100 disease-free eggs, there would be a yield of 45 kgs with chowki rearing and a yield of 50 kg with late age worm rearing. The yield should be having a shape and size, which is uniform and the content of silk should have a good weight of the shell. To complete this process, it takes a month.

Post-Cocoon process:

This process usually starts with the selection of the cocoon, the next step would be cooking and the final step would be silk reeling.

Coming to the selection of cocoon, to reel the silk, this step is very much important. A cocoon that is good will give a very good yield of silk fiber. The cocoon which you opt for should have the below features:

Cooking:

After selecting the cocoon, you need to steam it so that the insect which is present inside it will die without causing any sort of damage to the cocoon. The insect should be killed when it is inside the cocoon because if it comes out, there would be a discontinuity in the silk fiber and you will not be able to reel the fiber which is lengthy. After this, by using hot water, soak the cocoon. The temperature of the water, which is used for soaking should be between 93 to 95 degrees Celsius. The soaking is done so that the gum, which holds the fiber will be loosened so that the reeling would be easy. Then the entangling filament should be taken off and the silk can be reeled.

The costs required for the cultivation of sericulture in India:

The area required for the cultivation of mulberry – 2 acres

The size of the silkworm rearing shed – 60’ x 20’ (Feet)

The size of the silkworm rearing shed is 1200 square feet and the cost of construction is Rs. 1,30,000. This cost is due to the specifications of the shed with coconut fronds for the top. The shed also contains one door which is 6’ to 4’ and 13 number windows with 6’ to 3’. It also has cement flooring and hence the cost would be Rs.1,30,000/-.

The cost required for the cultivation of mulberry:

Details Amount (Rs.)
For Ploughing 1,200.00
Farmyard manure (FMY) 20 tonnes ( Rs.470 /tonne) 9,400
Ridges and Furrows 1,500
10,000 Mulberry cuttings/seedling( Rs.1/- each) 10,000
Labor charges for transplantation 1,200
Weeding 3,200
Cost of fertilizers 2,000
Cost of foliar spray for nutrients 700
Cost for Irrigation purpose 1000
Total 30,200

Cost of materials for Silkworm rearing:

Particulars Amount (Rs.)
Shoot harvesting 1200 sq.ft. (1 sq.ft. = Rs.8/-) 9,600
300 Chandrike(Rs. 50/- chandrike) 15,000
100 meters of Bed cleaning nets (Rs. 3 Per/mt) 300
Total 24,900

Costs of rearing of silkworm:

Particulars Amount (Rs.)
Cost of eggs for 2000 dfls @ Rs. 5/dfls 10,000
Spraying for 10 mulberry crops(Rs. 550/- each) 5,500
Labor charges 35,000
Chemical fertilizers for 10 crops 5,500
10 Weeding (Rs.600/- per weeding) 6,000
Cost of pesticides and foliar nutrients 3,000
Irrigation 3,000
Transport charges to the market for the sale of a cocoon 3000
Total 71,000

Returns In Sericulture:

Details Amount (Rs.)
Return on Cocoon harvested per annum ( 80 kg cocoon /100 DFLs), total 1400kg and each kg costs Rs.140 1,96,000
Annual expenditure 71,000
Net profit 1,25,000

Profit calculation in Sericulture:

  1. The income of Sericulture farming should be done on a yearly basis.
  2. The Cost of Cocoon is around Rs.120 to Rs.150 per Kg.
  3. Each DFL of silkworm gives 0.8 to 1 kg of a cocoon. So, we get 80 kg from 100 DFL’s.
  4. In a year we get 2,000 DFLs from a Silkworm shed of 1200 sq. ft.
  5. As the cost of DFLs is taken as Rs.140 per Kg cocoon.
  6. Then, we can earn 2,80,000 (Two lakhs approx.) from 2,000 DFLs.
  7. If we subtract the annual expenditures around Rs. 70,000/-, the marginal Sericulture Income is 2 lakhs approximately.

In case if you are interested in this: Quail Farming Business Plan.