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AyRojgar

Sericulture and silk yarn

Rearing silkworms on mulberry leaf for cocoons and silk yarn. The Sericulture Board supplies eggs, saplings, equipment and training free; its own rate for yarn is Tk 3,001-3,701 a kilo.

  • Last reviewed: 19 September 2026
  • Version 1
Starting capital
৳3,000 – ৳20,000
Official source
Manpower
1 – 4 people
First sale
30 – 180 days
Editorial estimate
Break-even
4 – 12 months
Editorial estimate
Kind of work
Home based · Medium difficulty

What the business is

Feeding mulberry leaf to silkworms, lifting the cocoons and reeling silk yarn from them - the old household trade of Rajshahi and Chapai-Nawabganj. The striking thing about this business is that the state gives the starting inputs away. Under the Bangladesh Sericulture Development Board's published citizen charter, a registered silk farmer gets improved mulberry cuttings and saplings, disease-free silkworm eggs, rearing equipment, training and mulberry-leaf testing free of charge - even advice on selling cocoons at a fair price is free. Eggs are issued in four bands a year: Chaita, Joishtha, Bhaduri and Agrahayani, that is March, May, August and October, so there are four chances a year for money to come in. The board sells the same eggs to private bodies and NGOs at Tk 205 per hundred and mulberry saplings at 50 paisa each; the farmer pays nothing. A mulberry tree lives 30 to 35 years and will grow on a roadside, an embankment or a field bund - any waste strip. On the yarn side, the board's own stock statement as of 30 June 2026 puts fine silk yarn at Tk 3,701 a kilo and dupion at Tk 3,001, plus 10 percent VAT and 5 percent tax at source. But read the same statement carefully: 1,002 kilos of dupion sit unsold in the store while the whole 2025-26 year produced only 832 kilos of yarn from farmers' cocoons. More than a year's output is stacked up waiting for a buyer, and that is the real risk in this trade.

Unit economics

ItemRangeEvidenceSuggest a correction
Monthly working capital৳3,000 – ৳10,000Official source
Selling price৳3,001 – ৳3,701 / kgOfficial source
Variable cost৳2,200 – ৳2,800 / kgEditorial estimate
Gross margin7% – 40%Editorial estimate
Time to first revenue30 – 180 daysEditorial estimate
Break-even time4 – 12 monthsEditorial estimate
Cash cycle0 – 20 daysEditorial estimate
Waste / loss10% – 25%Editorial estimate
Daily capacity0.1 – 1Editorial estimate

What you need to start

  • Rearing trays, mountages, nets and cutting boards, plus a charka or loom if you go on to yarn. The board itself calls these very ordinary tools that can be made cheaply in the village, and supplies them free subject to availability.Equipment
  • Disease-free silkworm eggs - free to a registered silk farmer, supplied in 10 working days, in four bands a year (Chaita, Joishtha, Bhaduri, Agrahayani; March, May, August, October). The same eggs are sold to private bodies and NGOs at Tk 205 per hundred.Starting stock
  • Improved mulberry cuttings and saplings - free to the farmer, in 7 working days, only in September to November. Sold to private bodies at 50 paisa a sapling and Tk 50 a maund for cuttings.Starting stock
  • Registration as a silk farmer with the Bangladesh Sericulture Development Board, by application on the prescribed form at a sericulture extension centre or silk seed store. There is no fee, but without it the free eggs, saplings, equipment and training are not available.Licence
  • Trade licence from the union parishad, municipality or city corporation: form Tk 10, licence book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, non-judicial stamp Tk 150-300, licence fee Tk 100-60,000 by trade type. Not needed to sell your own cocoons; needed once you sell yarn or cloth.Licence
  • Silkworm rearing, taught free by the board in batches of about 25 people over about 25 days. The board states that any woman or man, unlettered or barely lettered, can pick the work up.Skill
  • The board's sericulture extension centres and seed stores for eggs and saplings, and for selling cocoons its purchase centres or mini-filature units and the private reeling mills.Supplier
  • One clean, dry room of the house for rearing, and waste ground for the mulberry - roadsides, embankments, field bunds or odd strips around the homestead. No land has to be bought.Workspace

How the work runs

  1. 1Register at the nearest sericulture extension centre or silk seed store. The board has offices at Rajshahi, Rangpur, Bholahat, Sirajganj, Thakurgaon, Jhenaidah, Bogura and Gopalganj.
  2. 2Apply on the prescribed form for improved mulberry cuttings and saplings - free, in 7 working days. They are issued only between September and November, so missing that window costs a year.
  3. 3Plant the mulberry on waste ground - cultivated or fallow land, roadsides, embankments, odd strips around the house, field bunds. The tree lives 30-35 years and its deep roots keep it producing tolerably even in drought.
  4. 4Take the board's free training. A worm-rearing batch is usually 25 people and runs about 25 days; courses range from 7 to 30 days depending on the centre.
  5. 5Apply for disease-free eggs against one of the year's four bands - Chaita, Joishtha, Bhaduri or Agrahayani. For a farmer the eggs are free and supply takes 10 working days.
  6. 6Rear the worms in one clean dry room of the house. The trays, mountages, nets and cutting boards can be made in the village for very little, and the board supplies them free when it has stock.
  7. 7Phone the responsible officer the moment you see disease or pests on the worms or the trees. The board's charter makes that advice free and immediate.
  8. 8Dry and store the cocoons properly. The board's advice on drying, transport, storage, reeling and yarn quality is also free.
  9. 9Find out the fair price before you sell the cocoons. The board lists advice on buying and selling cocoons at a fair price as a separate free service - and without asking for it you will not know the rate.
  10. 10If you want to go as far as yarn, learn reeling - but line up a buyer first. As of 30 June 2026 the board itself was holding 1,002 kg of dupion and 182 kg of fine yarn unsold.
  11. 11Once you start selling yarn or cloth, take a trade licence from the union parishad or municipality and keep the tax accounts - yarn carries 10 percent VAT and 5 percent tax at source.

Seasons

  1. JanLow
  2. FebNormal
  3. MarHigh
  4. AprHigh
  5. MayHigh
  6. JunHigh
  7. JulLow
  8. AugHigh
  9. SepHigh
  10. OctHigh
  11. NovHigh
  12. DecLow
HighNormalLow

Where it fits

  • Strong fitChapai Nawabganj · The zonal sericulture extension office at Bholahat, where rearing batches run regularly.
  • Strong fitRajshahi · The board's head office, its regional extension office, the research and training institute and the Rajshahi silk factory are all here.
  • Strong fitRangpur · A regional sericulture extension office; 75 people took rearing training here in December 2025.
  • Strong fitSirajganj · A zonal sericulture extension office; a 50-person rearing batch ran here in December 2025.
  • PossibleBogura · A zonal sericulture extension office with regular training batches.
  • PossibleGopalganj · A zonal sericulture extension office, though far from the Rajshahi yarn mills.
  • PossibleJhenaidah · A regional sericulture extension office; the south-western silk belt.
  • PossibleNatore · Inside the Rajshahi silk belt, with seed stores and mills close by.
  • PossibleThakurgaon · A zonal sericulture extension office, with plenty of northern waste ground and field bunds for mulberry.
  • Weak fitDinajpur · A northern district with some mulberry, but few board offices nearby.

Risks and cautions

  • HighDemand: The yarn is not selling, it is piling up. The board's own statement puts the stock at 30 June 2026 at 1,002 kg of dupion and 182 kg of fine yarn, while the whole of 2025-26 produced just 832 kg of yarn from farmers' cocoons bought into the mini-filature units. More than a full year's output is sitting unsold. The trend is downward too: 1,438 kg in 2019-20 against 789 kg in 2023-24.
  • HighDependency: The whole business rests on one government body. Eggs, saplings, equipment, training, even the advice on a fair cocoon price all come from the Sericulture Development Board. Eggs are issued in only four bands a year and saplings only in September to November. Miss a band, or find the seed store without stock, and the farmer has no alternative but to sit out until the next one.
  • HighOther: The farmer cannot know the cocoon price in advance. The board publishes its yarn rate, its sapling rate and its egg rate, but nowhere on its site is the rate it pays a farmer for cocoons. It runs a separate Cocoon Purchase and Payment System, but that is behind a login. In a trade where you cannot learn the selling price beforehand, you cannot budget the income at all.
  • MediumSpoilage: If the worms die of disease the whole band's crop is gone. The fact that the board labels its eggs specifically as disease-free, and keeps a free immediate advice line for silkworm disease, shows how real the risk is. What share of batches is lost is not published.
  • MediumOther: Without mulberry leaf there is nothing to feed the worms, and the tree takes time. Anyone starting without mulberry must catch the September-November sapling distribution and then wait for the tree to carry usable leaf - a wait the board nowhere quantifies, so the date of first income cannot be predicted.

Sources

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