Record cocoon prices bring hope for Malda’s silk farmers
The Statesman | 29 November 2025
A wave of joy is sweeping through Malda’s sericulture belt. For the first time in recent memory, a farmer has earned Rs 26,000 for just 40 kg of silk cocoons, marking one of the highest payouts in the district’s recent history.
This Agrahayan season has seen an unprecedented surge in cocoon prices, offering much-needed relief to farmers at a time when Malda’s once-thriving silk industry was showing signs of struggle. On Friday, premium-quality cocoons touched Rs 26,000 per 40 kg at the Kaliachak Cocoon Market — a record-breaking rate that has instantly transformed the mood on the ground.
From early morning, hundreds of farmers from Chanchal, Manikchak, Mothabari, Sujapur, Kaliachak, Jalalpur, and Kaliachak-III blocks rolled into the market on trucks and vans, carrying their painstakingly nurtured cocoons. By noon, after the auctions closed and payments were made, the refrain was the same: “This time, we will finally make a profit.”
Sericulture remains a lifeline for nearly 70,000 families in Malda district. In recent years, the sector has been quietly rebuilding itself through a series of state interventions — improved silkworm seed supply, dedicated training programmes, better market linkage, and infrastructural upgrades. Minister Sabina Yasmin has played an active role, overseeing the plantation of new mulberry saplings and the construction of modern rearing houses to stabilise production cycles and strengthen the local economy.
According to Ujjal Saha, district president of both the Malda District Silk Yarn Producers Association and the Malda Merchant Chamber of Commerce & Industries, the turnaround is no accident.
“Quality has improved considerably, and Malda’s Nistari silk getting the GI tag has elevated its demand nationwide and globally. These prices will help farmers recover losses they have carried for years,” he said.
The district administration and the sericulture department have also introduced transparent auction systems in cocoon markets, ensuring fair prices and eliminating long-standing malpractices. Malda’s famed Nistari silk, the only GI-tagged silk variety in India, has now become a brand with renewed value.
The surge in prices has rekindled lost enthusiasm. Many who had drifted away from sericulture due to years of low returns are now planning to re-enter the field, planting new mulberry trees and preparing for fresh cycles of rearing. For families associated with silk for over six decades, this price boom feels like a new beginning.
Stakeholders — from government officials to farmer groups — agree that a collective push is essential to take Malda’s century-old silk tradition into a new era. But for now, the smiles across the cocoon markets say it all: Hope has finally returned to Malda’s silk farms.