COIMBATORE: Dwindling mulberry cultivation and silk cocoon production have triggered an unprecedented slump in demand for silkworm eggs in Coimbatore, leaving nearly two lakh Disease Free Layings (DFLs) piled up at a government cold storage facility.
Sales of DFLs at the Government Cold Storage Facility at Chinnavedampatti near Coimbatore have fallen below 40,000 a month since June, a steep drop from the 1 lakh to 1.40 lakh DFLs sold during May last year amid strong demand.
The facility stores bivoltine hybrid silkworm eggs supplied by government grainages in Coimbatore, Erode, Talavady and Tenkasi to meet farmers’ year-round requirements. “Our target is to sell 50,000 DFLs per month, and we normally achieve around 80 per cent of it. But sales touched nearly 1 lakh to 1.40 lakh DFLs in May last year because of high demand. It declined to around 1 lakh to 1.10 lakh in January this year and has now fallen below 40,000 since June. Sales have never dropped to such a low level before,” a sericulture department official said.
The sharp decline in demand has resulted in a substantial accumulation of stocks at the facility, with around two lakh DFLs currently in cold storage. The downturn comes after a period of robust demand following the Covid-19 pandemic. Officials said DFL shortages were common when demand was high, making the current stock accumulation particularly unusual.
The sector had witnessed a temporary decline in DFL sales in 2023 when drought-like conditions prevailed during March, April and May. However, demand recovered after the weather improved. This time, the downturn has persisted for more than a year, the official said.
Meanwhile, the price of DFLs has also risen steadily. A batch of 100 DFLs, which cost Rs 550 in 2021, increased to Rs 750 in 2022-23 and subsequently rose by another Rs 1,000 within the next four months. It is currently priced at Rs 1,250 per 100 DFLs.
Besides the Coimbatore facility, two DFL cold storage facilities are located in Krishnagiri district. Tamil Nadu has around 10 government grainages supplying silkworm eggs. “Most farmers prefer buying young silkworms from Chawki Rearing Centres (CRCs) rather than rear the eggs themselves. The centres procure eggs from government grainages and rear the silkworms until the second stage of moulting, known as the chawkie stage,” said R Selvakumar, a sericulture farmer from Udumalpet in Tirupur.
The current fall in DFL demand mirrors the broader distress in the sericulture sector, where declining mulberry acreage and cocoon yields have forced farmers to cut back on silkworm rearing.
40,000 and below has been the fall in sales of DFL silkworm eggs since June
2 lakh DFLs have piled up in cold storage
1 lakh to 1.4 lakh has been the sale of DFLs last May
Rs 1,250 is the present price of DFL, a drastic rise from the previous Rs 550