Experts at a seminar in Rajshahi yesterday underscored the need for immediate reopening of closed state-owned silk factories to save the country's silk heritage.
They stressed the need for funding silk research, popularising newly developed technologies of silk cultivation, building a proper marketing system to encourage silk growers, and increasing annual silk production.
The experts also recommended that tax on imported silk yarn be increased to ensure dependency on local raw silk.
Bangladesh Sericulture Development Board (BSDB) and Bangladesh Sericulture Research and Training Institute (BSRTI) jointly organised the day-long seminar on “Bangladesh's silk industry: present condition and future prospects" at Nanking Darbar Hall in the city with BSDB Director General Swapan Chandra Pal in the chair.
Speaking as the chief guest, Helaluddin Ahmed, divisional commissioner of Rajshahi, said silk would turn into one of the cash crops in the region if the recommendations were well-considered.
Dr M Tajimul Haque, an adviser of BSRTI, presented the keynote paper. He described that the development of silk industries was greatly hindered in the 90s when the government withdrew all tariff on imported silk yarns and shut down silk factories for some internal reasons, leading to the fall of local production in the face of low cost China silk yarn.
BSRTI Director Jamal Uddin Shah, Prof Selina Parween, Prof Mustafijur Rahman and silk industrialist Liakat Ali, among others, spoke.
The speakers said the government should allocate agriculture loans to the silk growers so that they could produce silk without fear of losses.
Despite having all required facilities, they said, the silk sector was lagging behind due to some faulty government policies.
They also suggested appointing experienced officials in BSDB and BSRTI for proper functioning of the organisations.