Assam: National Muga Day To Be Observed in State On May 19

GUWAHATI: The National Muga Day will be celebrated in Assam, its endemic zone, after more than ten years. This was stated in a meeting of The Lakhimpur District Muga Farmers Association held at Batomari Adarsh Higher Secondary School in Batomari in Dhakuwakhona on Sunday.

The secretary of the association Ranjit Gogoi explained the objectives of the meeting while it was chaired by its president Amiya Baruah.

During his presentation, chief advisor to the association and national award winning farmer and silk researcher Jitul Saikia, explained that Muga silk and its rearing is one of the three important pillars of Assamese culture including Assamese language and Bihu festival, and extinction of any one of them will mean the extinction of Assamese identity.

The economic aspect of muga rearing is very beneficial in which Rs 1.90 lakh could be earned from one hectare of land of host tree plantation called the Somani, according to Jitul Saikia,.

The yarn produced from one hectare of Somani earns a market price of Rs 7 lakhs

Muga rearing generates employment in which five hundred working days are created for one hectare of somani plantation.

The host tree plantations of muga also contribute immensely towards preservation of ecology and bio-diversity and protect the land from erosion by rivers.

Justifying the need for the celebration of the National Muga Day on May 19, Jitul Saikia said that traditionally muga is reared thrice in a calendar year Jeth (May-June), Aahar (June-July) and Bhado (August-September) for which the muga earns names like Jethuwa, Aeherua and Bhadia.

The Assamese month of Jeth (May-June) is considered the best for rearing of muga silk as the weather becomes fresh with the pre-monsoon showers strengthening even the weaker muga worms.

Similarly, this time of the year is ideal for the preservation of the breed of silk worms for the Aeherua and Bhadia variants of muga silk, Saikia said.

The ace Muga exponent also informed that polluted environment, climate change, misuse of pesticides etc. had led to the decline of Muga cultivation in the state.

The National Muga Day was first observed by the Wild Silk Society-North East, an NGO from Dhakuwakhona headed by Jitul Saikia in 2009. It adopted a resolution asking the State Government to declare muga silk as national wealth and its host trees like Som as national plant.

Their resolution also asked the state to plant Som trees on river banks, government grasslands and compounds of public institutions for the promotion of muga silk rearing. It also asked the Assam Government to declare activities like brick industries, pesticides that affect the host trees of the muga silkworm as illegal.

However, after a ten years of apathy and lack of response from the state, the Muga farmers gathered on Sunday to celebrate May 19 as the Muga Day with a one-day programme at Bordoi Panchayat Hall, Ghilamara. A 31-member celebration committee was formed with Muga farmer Amiy Barua as President and Lakshi Prasad Dutta as Secretary.

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