Tasar Silk and Honey in the Mountains of Garhwal, India

by Appropriate Technology International

Project Overview

The mountainous Garhwal district, which contains some of India's holiest pilgrimage sites, is rich in botanical diversity. It is also home to the endangered snow leopard, black bear, bharal deer, and musk deer. The principal threats to the region's biodiversity are unsustainable levels of fuelwood and fodder collection, grazing, and harvesting of non-timber forest products. To counter these threats, the project is working to establish community-based oak tasar silk and honey production enterprises in three watersheds in the Chamoli District of Garhwal.

The tasar silkworms (Antheraea proylei) use oak leaves from village and state owned forests as their food source. The silk enterprise will be divided into a centrally run grainage that will produce silkworm seed eggs for sale to community members, household run rearing enterprises that will use oak leaves to rear the silkworms, and a centrally operated silk reeling and marketing enterprise that will take the cocoons and process them to form silk thread that will be sold to cloth manufacturers.

The honey enterprise will involve community-based honey production initially for local sale and subsequently to religious pilgrims visiting the area and possibly for urban and international sale. Bee hives will be placed near people's houses with the bees foraging for nectar in natural forests, alpine meadows, and agricultural lands. These enterprises will strengthen local community institutions including forest management committees (van panchayats) and women's groups.

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