Diversion of sericluture funds 1m farmers deprived of training in silkworm, honeybee keeping
By Our Staff Reporter
2023-05-15
LAHORE: The forest department has diverted funds meant for sericulture to eco-conservation, depriving one million farmers of an opportunity to get trained in silkworm farming and honeybee keeping for additional income.
The three-year project worth Rs136 million had been initiated in the budget for 2021-22 for establishing an independent Non-Timber Forest Produce Institute to train over 0.65 million farmers in silk production, 0.4m in honeybee keeping and 3,000 women in mushroomproduction.
A sum of Rs17.28m was spent in the first year of the project for building capacity of the sericulture wing of theforest department to train master trainers. But, the rest of the allocated funds were later diverted to an ecoconservation project at Lal Sohanra Park, Bahawalpur, relaxing rules, in January this year. A proposal for the funds diversion had been rejected twice by a departmental development sub-committee back in October 2022.
Rana Saeed Anwer, president of the Silk Farmers & Traders Association, alleges that the forest department diverted the funds despite the Lahore High Court stay order issued last week against the use of the funds meant for the sericulture project for any other purpose.
He says the department was also not handing over the equipment procured for the sericulture scheme to the wing concerned.He regrets that earlier the department replaced mulberries (shahtoot) plants with eucalyptus trees at Chhanga Manga forest, which was once the biggest sericulture centre in Asia, causing irreparable loss to the local silk and herbal industry. Now the herbs are being imported from abroad to keep the herbal industry functional, while the rising disparity between rupee and dollar has created difficulties for the stakeholders, he adds.
In a letter written to the chief conservation officer, forests, Mr Anwer has urged him to play his role in implementing the LHC orders so that the sericulture development project may be revived for the benefit of small farmers, who may join the low-cost silkworm production and help alleviate rural poverty.
