Silkworm Seed Centre at Jorhat Gets Grainage, Cold Storage

Union Minister of State for Textiles Pabitra Margherita inaugurated a newly built grainage building and cold storage facility at the Central Silk Board's Silkworm Seed Production Centre (SSPC) at Rowriah, Jorhat, in Assam on 8 October 2026. The facility was set up under the North-East Region Textile Promotion Scheme (NERTPS) and is meant to modernise sericulture infrastructure and shore up rural livelihoods in the region.

What the facility can do

The new unit can produce 30 lakh disease-free layings (DFLs) of mulberry hybrid seed a year and can preserve up to 1 crore DFLs. Quality silkworm seed reaching farmers on time is the bottleneck in sericulture, and the upgrade is aimed squarely at it: better seed production efficiency, a stronger regional value chain, jobs, and business for local suppliers and traders.

Assam's place in India's silk map

Addressing the gathering, the minister set out the State's weight in the national silk economy. Assam accounts for roughly 84 per cent of India's Muga silk, which works out to 73 metric tonnes, and about 74 per cent of Eri silk production, or 2,131 metric tonnes. In 2026-27, up to July, the State recorded 6 per cent of mulberry raw silk output, amounting to 9 metric tonnes. For the North-Eastern Region as a whole over the same period, the figures stood as below.

Seed network and employment

The minister described the Central Silk Board's seed production network as covering both the mulberry and the Vanya sectors. The Board's national silkworm seed organisation serves the mulberry seed sector, while two other organisations support the Vanya seed sector. Sericulture is estimated to provide employment to about 29.50 lakh persons during 2025-26, which is why seed quality carries consequences well beyond the farm gate. He said quality seed, modern infrastructure, technology and skill development together decide whether the sector stays productive and sustainable, and he named Mission Senehjori as a route to turning Muga silk into a high-value product for world markets.

What else happened

A Seri-Stakeholder Meet was held alongside the inauguration to take up the sector's problems with those working in it. Progressive sericulture farmers were felicitated and P1 disease-free layings were distributed directly to farmers. Certificates went to trainees who completed training under the Textiles Ministry's Samarth scheme for skill development. The minister pressed for closer work between the Central Silk Board, the State government, research institutions, farmers and entrepreneurs, placing the effort within the goals of an Aatmanirbhar North-East and a Viksit Assam. Among those present were Kamakhya Prasad Tasa, Member of Parliament from Kaziranga, Hitendra Nath Goswami, Member of the Legislative Assembly from Jorhat, Assam's Director of Sericulture Lakhimi Dutta and Central Silk Board Member Secretary P. Sivakumar.