Reviving the traditional profession of growing mulberry and raising silkworms

(Baonghean) - Since ancient times, Dang Son commune, Do Luong district has been known for its mulberry growing, silkworm raising, silk reeling, and spinning. However, for various reasons, this profession is now in a difficult and "declining" period.

According to the elders in the commune, in the past, when passing Do Luong ferry, going along National Highway 7 towards Anh Son, along the Lam River bank of Dang Son commune, the lush mulberry fields always created a beautiful, poetic landscape. Thanks to the alluvial source of Lam River, the land of Dang Son is always fertile, creating a strong vitality of mulberry trees. It is the mulberry fields that make the life of Dang Son people always vibrant, the job of "eating standing up" is always attractive to Dang Son people, becoming a profession that brings the main source of income for the majority of people here.

Silk thread products in Xuan Nhu craft village (Dang Son - Do Luong) - Photo: Luong Mai

In the early years of the country's renovation, the people continued to preserve and develop the mulberry growing, silkworm raising, silk reeling, and silk spinning. Dang Son's silk products continued to be consumed throughout all regions of the country. The commune's silk reeling workshop was always bustling with people coming and going, and some families could reel at least 10 kg of silk every week, even though they were manually reeling. However, in the trend of opening up and integrating more and more deeply into the economy, when cheap foreign fabrics and clothing products, especially Chinese goods, flooded the market, the domestic weaving industry faced many difficulties, the consequence was that the silk market was unstable, prices fluctuated erratically, and sometimes the silk produced could not be consumed.

This prolonged situation has made mulberry growers and silkworm breeders frustrated, many households have quit their jobs to switch to other jobs. Many households still grow mulberry and raise silkworms, but not to reel silk and spin silk, but to... sell silkworms for food. If in the past, most households in Dang Son grew mulberry, raised silkworms, and reeled silk, now the whole Dang Son commune has only 95 households growing mulberry and raising silkworms, of which only 11 households reel silk and spin silk. To revive this traditional profession, according to the people's wishes, Dang Son commune and Do Luong district have established a project and the People's Committee of Nghe An province has issued a decision to recognize Xuan Nhu silk reeling and spinning craft village in 2005.

It was thought that when the craft village was recognized, the mulberry growing, silkworm raising, silk reeling and spinning in Dang Son would be revived and developed strongly, but in reality, the change was not as expected. When asked about the mulberry growing, silkworm raising, silk reeling and spinning, Mr. Mai Van Thai, Head of the Agriculture Department of Dang Son commune, said: "The mulberry growing, silkworm raising, silk reeling and spinning profession of Dang Son has existed since ancient times, from 1990 onwards, most of the people of Dang Son grew mulberry and raised silkworms. About 20 years ago, especially since the commune decided to stop the operation of the commune's silk reeling workshop due to business losses and divided the land to the people according to Decree 64, this profession began to develop slowly, people were no longer interested in it".

Through our research, the silkworm farming and silk reeling profession is still a profession that brings high economic efficiency. On average, each production season lasts 10 months, and the income from silkworm farming and silk reeling of each household reaches from 10 to 30 million VND after deducting expenses. Mr. Tran Van Dong, a citizen of Hamlet 3, Dang Son Commune, a long-time silkworm farming and silk reeling household, said: "In the 2013 silkworm farming and silk reeling season, my family raised 10 batches of silkworms and purchased cocoons for silk reeling. After deducting expenses, the family still earned nearly 30 million VND, of which 20 million VND was from silk reeling. Compared to pig farming, silkworm farming is 9-10 times more profitable."

In my opinion, expanding and developing the mulberry growing, silkworm raising, silk reeling and spinning profession in Dang Son is a necessary task, it not only allows to exploit the maximum potential of the alluvial land along the Lam River of the commune, fully exploit the idle labor source, but also increases the income of farmers. In the long term, for Xuan Nhu craft village to develop sustainably and have a stable position in the market, the authorities at all levels need to support the building of the "Xuan Nhu silk" brand. Hopefully, in the near future, the mulberry growing, silkworm raising, silk reeling and spinning profession in Dang Son will flourish again as it once did, creating a spreading force, stimulating the remaining communes along the Lam River of Do Luong district to develop this profession, contributing to the transformation of occupations and crop systems in Do Luong.

Tran Van Long

(Propaganda Department of Do Luong District Party Committee)