Silk Capital

Hello,

I am sharing to you my previous article published on BusinessWorld and Sun.Star Bacolod. This is a very old story, and I just want to compile some of the articles I wrote before.

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By Robert Leonoras, Correspondent
August 27-28, 2004 | BusinessWorld

TF! Editorial Comment: Agricultural production is still a primary activity in much of the countryside. Initiatives which build on the agricultural base with proper linkages can leverage resources for building sustainable local economies. In the article below, an entrepreneur in Negros is using silk production to create livelihoods and support silk-based handicraft and garment production.

Negros island is pitching to become the country's silk capital, and it has empirical data to back up its claim.

Not everybody knows that sericulture farms on Negros island produce between 85% and 90% of the raw materials for silk in the country.

Silkworms: Negros' claim to fame
These farms are found in Bago City and Sagay City in Negros Occidental, and Canlaon City in Negros Oriental.

"We are the biggest producers of silk in the country, wherein 85% to 90% are being distributed in the other cities and provinces. We supply 90% of silk to Aklan weavers. They are our major buyer," said Thelma Watanabe, president of Mayu Silk Industry.

She and husband Shigimi are working to make Negros the silk capital.
Mr. Watanabe is a director of the Organization for Industrial, Spiritual & Cultural Advancement (OISCA), which operates a 26-hectare silk farm in Bago City.

OISCA is a non-profit and non-governmental organization (NGO) founded by the late Dr. Yonosuke Nakano in Japan on Oct. 6, 1961.

When the silk farm started, silkworms were imported from Japan. Today, Mrs. Watanabe said they produce their own silkworms, the result of crossbreeding the Japanese and Chinese silkworms.

"The sericulture industry is now the biggest livelihood in Negros Occidental," she said.

OISCA-Bago has a reeling center, silk center, rearing house, and breeding center.

"Reeling is the process of taking the thread from the cocoon to make it into yarn while rearing is the process of growing the silkworm until it transforms into a cocoon," Mrs. Watanabe explained.

The training center offers major services such as an agricultural training course, which is a live-in training for youth interested in farming. The trainees not only learn farming and other related technologies but also healthful living.

The center also maintains an area for rice cultivation, vegetable production, a piggery, a seedling nursery, mulberry plantations, silkworm nursery, rearing houses, and a silk reeling plant. OISCA-Bago also provides scholarship, training program for women, reforestation program, tie-up programs and day care program.