Rwanda targets to produce about 700 million silkworm eggs by the end of this year.This stock is sufficient to supply all cooperatives in the industry countrywide.The silkworm egg production is to cover 25 hectares at Nyandungu site in Kigali where 300,000 mulberry cuttings imported from Uganda have been planted.In a long term plan, government targets to have 600,000 hectares of mulberry planted in the next three years to benefit 60,000 poor families.Peter Muvara, chairman of sericulture project said that imports of eggs for silk production are costly and at times lose viability in transit. Rwanda has been importing eggs from South Korea and India; so making them locally is the priority now. “The challenge that constrains the project is the marketing aspect where the private sector is still conscious and moving at a slow pace compared to production,” he saidAnother challenge to the project was the cost of eggs where each box would cost $15 to $20, so having silk worm egg processing locally would save about Frw383.6m from 35,000 boxes.Rwanda Investment Group (RIG) as a service provider in the industry has also pioneered as private investors in the industry with 20 hectares in Rusizi, Western Province, and a local textile company UTEXRWA is in position to produce silk products.The government has allocated about Frw154m particularly for training about 60 people to handle production, training in various sericulture activities including mulberry farming activities, silkworm rearing, weaving to ensure that they produce quality silk products.Jointly with Rural Sector Support (RSSP), Silk Culture has established Gasabo Silk Culture Cooperative to handle production and marketing.Farmers are supplied with mulberry cuttings for free because the project is still a pilot study, but the facilities will put in place sale targets to recover egg costs.Ends
