A farmer places layers of Mulberry leaves for silkworm caterpillars to eat for them to grow bigger at the production hub of the Balubal Sericulture Farmers Association in Cagayan de Oro on Friday, 25 August 2023. MindaNews photo by FROILAN GALLARDO
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews / 30 August) — Breathing slowly, 62-year-old Emilia Cabilic evenly places piles of mulberry leaves in the box, careful not to startle the velvety silkworm caterpillars that have become a source of hope and income in the past two years,
In a moment, the caterpillars grazed the fresh green leaves that she fed in the production hub of the Balubal Sericulture Farmers Association, which is located in Barangay Balubal here.
Cabilic and the other women farmers would repeat the process until the caterpillars reach the stage when they are ready to spin a cocoon of silk threads around themselves, after 30 days later.
She would then harvest the cocoons and sell them to as much as P500 per kilogram (kg).
“We feed them every day. You can hear them eat the leaves,” Cabilic said.
Marilyn Galindo Arabis, president of the Balubal Sericulture Farmers Association, stressed the velvety silkworm caterpillars have been providing hope and livelihood to the women at the relocation site in Barangay Balubal, some 19 kilometers east of Cagayan de Oro City.
“Aside from livelihood, we started something that made positive changes among the women in the relocation site, referring to their commitment and determination.
Arabis noted that because larvae need constant care and attention, the women in their association religiously go to the small farmhouse where these are housed.
A farmer carefully puts down silkworm caterpillars on frames so each can spin silk threads around itself at the production hub of the Balubal Sericulture Farmers Association in Cagayan de Oro on Friday, 25 August 2023. MindaNews photo by FROILAN GALLARDO
She boasted that they had already harvested cocoons 14 times since the project was started in 2021.
Cabilic said she is proud of the success of their sericulture venture.
“We did not rely on ayuda durng the COVID-19 pandemic. The caterpillar (venture) was able to feed us,” she said.
The Balubal Sericulture Farmers Association has only 14 members so far, maintaining a one-hectare farm for cocoon production.
Kris Buntag, chief of the Cagayan de Oro social entrepreneurship program, said the City Housing and Urban Development department is planning to develop another two hectares for sericulture production for the beneficiaries of the Cagayan de Oro Resettlement Socialized Housing Project 4 in Barangay Balubal.
Some 4,000 families who used to dwell in urban poor communities in Cagayan de Oro have been residing in the resettlement site.
“Presently, the women’s association has only one hectare but we want to add another two hectares because their sericulture venture is successful,” Buntag said.
He said the cocoon production of the Balubal women’s association is about 40 kg per harvest, which is so tiny to fill the demand for silk in the Philippines.
“ We agree that the income derived from (their) sericulture (project so far) is barely enough to sustain the basic needs of the women. That is the reason why we are developing two more hectares of land for them,” Buntag said.
A farmer places silkworm caterpillars on frames at the production hub of the Balubal Sericulture Farmers Association in Cagayan de Oro on Friday, 25 August 2023. MindaNews photo by FROILAN GALLARDO
The Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Textile Research Institute (DoST-PTRI) estimated the demand for local raw silk, which is used for clothes, at 10 metric tons or 10,000 kg a year.
According to the DoST, the global market for silk is pegged at US$ 15.6 billion in 2021. Because its threads are luscious and lightweight, silk is highly in demand in the clothing industry to make gowns, scarves, robes, dresses and shirts.
The DoST had set up a silk research and innovation center in Claveria, Misamis Oriental to help sericulture farmers in Balubal and four other production centers in Misamis Oriental.
The center buys the cocoon from the farmers and sells them to weavers nationwide, including the ones in Misamis Oriental. (Froilan Gallardo / MindaNews)
