'Silk And Milk' Model Can Boost Farmers' Earnings: Meghna Bordikar In Parbhani

Parbhani: District Guardian Minister Meghna Bordikar on Sunday said farmers must integrate traditional agriculture with sericulture and dairy farming to double their income. She assured that the government would make every effort to provide special financial assistance to strengthen the silk industry in the district, establish silk processing units and a Silk Bhavan, and create facilities across the entire value chain—from production and processing to marketing.

She said combining sericulture with dairy farming could emerge as a sustainable and profitable model for farmers.

Bordikar was speaking at a workshop on Sustainable Agriculture, Sericulture and Dairy, NDKSP 2.0, and Mera Resham Mera Abhiman 2.0, organised at the Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Agricultural University on Sunday. The programme was jointly organised by the university's Sericulture Research Project, the Department of Agriculture, ATMA, the Central Silk Board, the District Sericulture Office, and the Lead Bank.

She said the government has taken several farmer-centric decisions, including waiving electricity bills, ensuring remunerative prices for agricultural produce, and empowering women farmers. To make agriculture more profitable, she urged young farmers to adopt sericulture, dairy farming, and agro-processing, leveraging modern technology.

Bordikar said Parbhani has immense potential for sericulture and expressed confidence that a dedicated sericulture research centre would soon be established at the agricultural university, which has already made significant contributions to the district's silk production.

District Collector Sanjay Singh Chavan said Parbhani, being an agrarian district, has immense scope for developing the "silk and milk" model. He said promoting sericulture, dairy farming, and agro-processing industries would help enhance farmers' incomes.

The programme began with the traditional lighting of the lamp. The Silk Milk logo and a commemorative magazine were also released. Zilla Parishad Chief Executive Officer Natisha Mathur, Deputy General Manager YVSS Nageshwar Rao, Director of Research Dr Bhagwan Asewar, Director of Education Dr Babasaheb Thombare, Deputy Director of Sericulture Dr Mahendra Dhavale, and other dignitaries were present.