| | OCTOBER 20229female dominance in the workforce as well as in employment generation is an intrinsic characteristic of sericulture activities. Technological Disruptions & their Impact on Sericulture Today, the Sericulture industry provides yearlong employment to about 10.67 lakh rural and semi-urban people, including men and women. As employment opportunities increased for sericulture in rural areas, people have now started to use technologies to increase yield. By introducing new technologies, silk cocoon production in this part of the world witnessed a structural breakthrough. Interestingly, it seems that the silk cocoon production in these 'new technology farms' was 33.09 percent more than 'traditional farms.' Regarding input, the technology farms use 34.32 percent more chemical fertilizers, 76.92 percent more farm yard manure, 17.72 percent more DFLs, and 15.38 percent more disinfectants and materials in silk cocoon production. Labor was one of the components used at a lower rate than the traditional farms at -6.56 percent. Analyzing the structural breakthrough in silk cocoon production revealed that the new technology's contribution was significant. The total gain in production due to the shift from old methodologies to new technologies was found to be 28.58 percent, mainly due to the difference in the levels of input use.Raghu D, a resident of Sarjapur in Bangalore, Karnataka, is an enthusiastic sericulture farmer. His farm is involved in the end-to-end process, including rearing silkworms and producing silk. From 2011 up until the past year, Raghu had been following traditional methods and was selling silk in the market located in Kolar and Ramanagara, around 50-70 km away from his native area. In recent years, he started to employ some of the technological interventions on his farm that helped him to increase the yield by 25 percent while reducing the investment cost. He was able to make a healthy profit with the help of Reshamandi, a startup that helps sericulture farmers improve the yield and quality of silk using artificial intelligence, cloud platforms, and IoT sensors--all boxed in a portable device. These technological interventions have helped 5,500 farmers across Karnataka increase their income by almost 30 percent and ensure steady profits from the market. SERICULTURE CREATED EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES NOT ONLY FOR MEN, EVEN WOMEN OF RURAL AREAS DEPEND ON SERICULTURE FOR INCOME. THEY CONSIDER SERICULTURE A FAMILY-BASED BUSINESS
< Page 8 | Page 10 >