Always struggling with silkworm eggs

Once again, the story of how to proactively source silkworm eggs received special attention at the conference "Sustainable development of Vietnam's silkworm industry" organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in coordination with the People's Committee of Lam Dong province in Da Lat city on December 2.

Reviving the sericulture industry

Mr. Tong Xuan Chinh, Deputy Director of the Department of Animal Husbandry, said that the silkworm farming profession has existed for a long time and has become a traditional profession in Vietnam. Silkworm farming has been associated with many generations of farmers and has become a cultural feature in the lives of Vietnamese people. During the process of formation and development, there have been ups and downs, at one point the mulberry area reached 38,000 hectares, with cocoon output of 26,000 tons/year (1995). However, up to now, only a few localities with advantages in climate, soil, and land have continued to develop.

Silk production at a silk spinning factory in Lam Dong

The average growth rate of mulberry area in the period 2018 - 2022 is 12.15%. Currently, there are 32 provinces nationwide with mulberry growing and silkworm raising with an area of ​​about 13,200 hectares of mulberry. The average growth rate of cocoon output in the period 2018 - 2022 is 19.33% (in 2019 it was 11,855 tons of cocoons, by 2022 it was 16,824 tons). Currently, with the price of yellow cocoons from 110,000 - 120,000 VND/kg, the price of white cocoons from 170,000 - 205,000 VND/kg, mulberry farmers earn 2 to 3 times higher than other crops such as rice, tea, sugarcane, etc. Vietnam's silk production is in the top 5 in the world , after China, India, Uzbekistan and Thailand.

Sericulture is on the rise

However, every year Vietnam still has to import thousands of tons of raw silk, mainly from Japan, China and Uzbekistan... for processing for export purposes.

Always worried about silkworm eggs

According to Mr. Chinh, the structure of Vietnamese silkworm breeds has two main types: mulberry silkworms and cassava leaf castor oil silkworms. The demand for mulberry silkworm eggs for production is about 450,000 - 500,000 boxes of eggs/year, while the demand for cassava silkworm eggs for production is about 90,000 - 95,000 boxes/year. Currently, the main silkworm breeds being raised for silk are white cocoon bigeneration silkworms for high quality silk; yellow cocoon multigeneration silkworms for lower quality silk and hybrid multigeneration silkworms. Of which, white cocoon bigeneration silkworms must be imported about 90% from China (through unofficial channels). Long-distance transportation across the border takes a lot of time, and on the other hand, due to lack of quality control and disease control, it leads to high risks for producers.

Tens of thousands of farming households involved in the sericulture industry

Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan, Director of Minh Quang Lam Company Limited (Bao Loc City, Lam Dong), admitted that we depend on more than 90% of Chinese bisexual eggs. Although we have been raising them for over 30 years, we have not been allowed to import them officially. "When we want to import by air, we have to go through a partner company and the cost is quite high. Going through unofficial channels leads to many risks in terms of preservation, not meeting the standards of the breed, making the hatching of the breed unstable, affecting the quality of the breed. During the recent Covid-19 outbreak, we had to destroy over 1,000 egg cartons because we could not ensure the quality and hatching of the eggs," Ms. Lan said.

Silkworm farming on the floor

Speaking at the conference, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Phuc, Vice Chairman of Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee, informed that as the "capital" of mulberry and silk in the country, besides the achievements, there are still shortcomings and inadequacies. The domestic silkworm egg production system has not met the demand in terms of quantity and quality; silkworm eggs are mainly imported from China through unofficial channels without quality and origin control; the management, production and trading of silkworm eggs still have many shortcomings, the legal corridor is not really clear...

Meanwhile, according to the Vietnam Sericulture Association, we are currently not proactive in the source of white cocoon silkworm eggs and are heavily dependent on imported eggs from China, leading to the unsustainable development of the silkworm breeding industry, the inability to proactively plan production, and the inability to control quality and diseases. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a strategy for the development of the Vietnamese sericulture industry, negotiate with China at the national level to import silkworm eggs through official channels, and gradually put two domestic silkworm varieties VH2020 and LD-09 into production.

Proactively sourcing silkworm eggs is still a difficult problem for the sericulture industry.

According to Mr. Phung Duc Tien, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, the whole country has about 38,000 households with 101,000 people participating in the silkworm industry, which brings great export value. However, the biggest problem and difficulty at present is the problem of breeds, which needs to be resolved. Besides, processing and linkage also face many difficulties. Therefore, first of all, units must focus on building a strategic project for the development of the silkworm industry, then organize research, develop breeds, and seriously implement scientific programs on breeds. It is necessary to strengthen the management of science and technology, facilities must ensure research capacity as well as products must meet factors not only in quality but also in price, at the same time coordinate to build a chain of links, organize trade promotion to expand the market, etc.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/mai-loay-hoay-chuyen-trung-giong-tam-18523120216452647.htm