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Highlands expand mulberry farms
Many farmers in the Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) province of Lam Dong have resumed mulberry and silkworm cultivation to profit from the increasing price of silkworm cocoons, according to the province's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Because of high demand and supply shortage, the price of cocoons has doubled to VND90,000-95,000 a kilo, from the same period last year when demand slumped.
The areas under mulberry cultivation in traditional silk growing districts such as Lam Ha, Dat Teh, Cat Tien and Duc Trong and Bao Loc Town have increased by 80-150 percent compared to early last year, said the department.
Bao Loc Town's Dam B'ri Commune alone now has 182ha of mulberry trees and 300 silkworm breeding households.
Many ethnic minority households in rural areas of Lam Ha District have high incomes from silk growing.
Twenty-year-old Mo Bon Ka Phuoc, an ethnic minority in Me Linh Commune's Han Hot Village, Lam Ha District, said he harvested 36 kilo of cocoons after one month of breeding from 20 grams of silkworm eggs.
"After deducting the costs, I earned a profit of more than VND1 million," Phuoc said.
Nguyen Van Chanh, Secretary of the Me Linh Commune Party Committee, said ethnic minority households have planted a lot of land with mulberry trees lately.
Chanh said the authorities of Me Linh Commune have decided to develop the mulberry and coffee farming as two main crops to reduce poverty for local residents.
If the high price of silkworm cocoons maintains or increases, more farmers are likely to switch to mulberry and silk growing, according to silkworm farmers.
Lam Dong, which had 15,000ha of mulberry before the price slump, now has only 5,000ha, but the area is increasing again.
Last year, the provincial People's Committee planned to develop the province's mulberry planting area to nearly 9,000 ha this year.
VietNamNet, VietNamNews
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