Determining that mulberry growing and silkworm rearing is a potential profession with high economic value, Bao Yen district is determined to revive the profession in the direction of promoting linkages and attracting investment for the processing industry for sustainable development.

The commodity-oriented mulberry farming profession in Viet Tien and Kim Son communes, Bao Yen district began to flourish and develop from the end of 2017. With the ability to quickly recover capital and high economic efficiency, mulberry farming Silkworm farming then developed strongly and spread to many localities in Bao Yen district.

During the “golden age”, the area of ​​mulberry cultivation and silkworm raising reached more than 200 hectares. Mulberry was then identified as a key crop in the development of commodity agriculture in Bao Yen district with a scale of 400 hectares by 2025.

However, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the mulberry industry suffered a recession and the price of silk cocoons hit rock bottom, so many households cut down their mulberry growing areas and “quit the job” of raising silkworms. Going through the recession, around mid-2023, the mulberry industry has recovered, silk cocoon prices have increased again, Bao Yen district has introduced many solutions to encourage farmers and businesses to restore mulberry farming. silkworm, but many farmers still show caution with this profession. Up to now, the entire Bao Yen district has only recovered more than 30 hectares of mulberry trees.
Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Khoa’s family in Bao An village, Kim Son commune persistently maintains the profession of growing mulberries and raising silkworms.

Up to now, Mr. Khoa’s family has 3 hectares of mulberry growing and raises 2 batches of silkworms/month. For each generation, Mr. Khoa’s family raises 5 silkworm rings, collecting about 100 kg of cocoons. With an average cocoon price of 160,000 VND/kg, Mr. Khoa earns about 16 million VND for each batch of silkworms, a profit of 13 million VND after deducting all costs.

Sericulture and silkworm farming bring a good source of income for farmers in Bao Yen district.
Mr. Khoa shared: Raising silkworms is not difficult, but you often have to go online to learn and improve farming techniques to reduce costs and achieve the best productivity and quality of cocoons.

For silkworm farming, the hardest time is during the 3 days when the silkworms have free time, but in return, silkworm farming has many times higher economic value than traditional agriculture (growing rice, growing corn). With the current scale, each month my family can earn about 25 – 26 million VND after deducting all kinds of expenses.

Returning to the profession of starting from 2 silkworm cocoons and then expanding to 4 and 8 silkworm cocoons, Mr. Nguyen Van Viet in Tan Van village, Kim Son commune also affirmed: If the price of cocoons is stable as at present, growing mulberries and raising silkworms will surely be possible.

certainly brings higher economic efficiency than other local crops and livestock. We work while listening to the market, gradually expanding production scale.

When the mulberry industry recovered, the market showed signs of improvement, the price of cocoons increased and stabilized, not only Mr. Khoa and Mr. Viet’s family but many other households in Kim Son commune, Viet Tien and some other households.

Other communes in Bao Yen district have gradually restored the mulberry growing area to raise silkworms. Silkworm farming households are constantly expanding their scale, building new breeding houses, and applying techniques to have healthy, disease-free silkworms and improve the quality of cocoons.

Up to now, the entire Bao Yen district has about 20 households returning to mulberry growing and silkworm raising with a restored mulberry growing area of ​​more than 30 hectares.

Talking about the restoration of mulberry growing and sericulture in the locality, Ms. Nhu Thi Tam, Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Bao Yen district said: After the mulberry industry recovered, Bao Yen district continued to confirm Mulberry is determined to be a tree with high economic value. If it can be linked and developed in a chain, it will help farmers increase their income.

Bao Yen district remains steadfast in making mulberry trees a key tree, giving priority to development and expansion in the coming time. By 2025, the district strives to develop and stabilize about 300 hectares and expand to 500 hectares of mulberry trees by 2030.

Besides encouraging people to restore the area of ​​mulberry growing and raising silkworms, we have pushed Strengthen connections with businesses, especially Yen Bai Mulberry Joint Stock Company to develop mulberry growing and silkworm farming in a sustainable chain.

When there is a large enough growing area, the locality will call for and attract investment in silk processing factories to increase the value of this industry.

The recovery and stable development of the mulberry industry is an important basis for Bao Yen district to revive the mulberry growing profession and be steadfast with the goal of making this crop a key crop.

Besides, the association with Yen Bai Mulberry Joint Stock Company helps farmers in Bao Yen district gain more confidence to return to the profession of growing mulberry and raising silkworms.
Modern silk nursery factory of Yen Bai Mulberry Silk Joint Stock Company.

Mr. Vu Xuan Truong, Director of Yen Bai Mulberry Joint Stock Company, said: The company’s factory currently has 4 machine rigs, with a reeling capacity of 2.5 tons of cocoons/day. The company’s main product is silk yarn exported to India, Japan, and EU markets.

Besides the raw material area in Yen Bai province, we are also developing the raw material area for growing mulberry and raising silkworms in Lao Cai province and Ha Giang province.

In particular, we highly appreciate the potential of Lao Cai province’s raw material areas, which can be developed on a large scale.

The company is ready to cooperate, provide technical support, and purchase cocoon products for farmers through cooperatives.

In addition to developing raw material areas, we have also conducted surveys and worked with functional branches of Lao Cai province to research and build a silk reeling factory in the province when the necessary conditions are met.

The mulberry industry has recovered strongly so people can feel secure in developing production.