Tasar Silk and Honey in the Mountains of Garhwal, India

by Appropriate Technology International

What's at Stake?

The rugged mountains of the Garhwal district are home to the endangered snow leopard, black bear, bharal deer and musk deer. However, the rich biodiversity of the region is threatened by over-grazing and excessive harvesting of non-timber forest products as well as unsustainable fuel and fodder collection. To counter these problems, project partners are working to establish community-based oak tasar silk and honey production enterprises in three watersheds in Garhwal to help strengthen local community forest resource management and provide sustainable sources of revenues for the villagers.

Tasar silkworms (Antheraea proylei) use oak leaves from village and state owned forests as their food source. Last year, when villagers in Akash Kamani Valley harvested their first ever tasar crop from oak leaves, it was like "seeing was believing." Villagers, particularly women, began to see value added to their efforts which often go undervalued.

We hope that by involving the whole family in the tasar enterprises that families will understand their vested interest in ensuring that the harvest is indeed sustainable. The silk enterprise is divided into a centrally run grainage that produces silkworm seed eggs for sale to community members, household run rearing enterprises that will use oak leaves to feed the silkworms and a centrally operated silk reeling and marketing enterprise to process silk thread that will be sold to cloth manufacturers.

The honey enterprise will involve placing bee hives near houses. The bees forage for nectar in natural forests, alpine meadows and agricultural lands.

	1997 Update
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"OK...So What?"

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