Hailstorm causes extensive damage to Jethuwa muga crops

From a Correspondent

Boko, April 25: There are a total of six life cycles of muga silkworm in a year out of which two cycles are counted as commercial crops and four are counted as muga seed crops. Commercial crops are ‘Katia’ and ‘Jethuwa’. Normally, commercial crops are reared on a large scale and seed crops in a small scale.

Rearing of Jethuwa Muga normally is done in April in the hilly areas of South Kamrup. Most of   the people in Garo-inhabited villages are involved in rearing of Jethuwa crops. In the past years also, storm or hailstorm had damaged the crops during this period but this time heavy storm accompanied by hail and rain hit the area again and caused extensive damage to the muga crops which will break the backbone of the village economy.

According to local muga rearers, hailstorm lashed villages under South Kamrup district on April 14 and April 15, destroying the Jethuwa crops. Most of the villages suffered extensive damage and more than 99 per cent of three-four days old muga larvae died in the hailstorm.  “Normally, this area produces around 27 lakh to 30 lakh Jethuwa cocoons every year. But this time, we cannot expect even 1,000 cocoons,” said Reema Marak , a young educated girl involved in the muga business and also a registered muga authorized GI user.