Daily Times

Pakistan is importing silk worth 67 billion rupees. If we produce more silk in our country, it will provide employment to 600,000 people, most of whom will be of rural women, said Muhammad Farooq Bhatti, Deputy Director, Sericulture Punjab, Forest Department, Lahore. But lack of Mulberry trees has been restricting Pakistan to fully tap its potential. “In the 1990s, the area of mulberry trees shrank, leading to a decline of the sericulture industry, now we are trying to bring it back,” he told China Economic Net (CEN). Mulberries are one of the most popular fruits in Pakistan. Mulberry trees, fast-growing and small to medium-sized, are being cultivated in rural areas of Pakistan. Apart from wide presence in Punjab, they can also be found in KPK, Abottabad, and GB. Thanks to the hot climate, the growth period of mulberry trees in Pakistan is about 10 months, which means its leaves can be harvested several times within one year. ” I will say it is a fruit tree with no part going waste,” Malik Mohsin Abbas, Principal Scientist at the Horticulture Research Institute, Ayub Agriculture Research Institute, told CEN. Its leaves can be used as feed for silkworms, which provide silk for the textile sector; its branches are used to make different types of baskets that can be seen in almost every rural house of Pakistan. Its fruit is edible and can be processed into mulberry juice, powder, jam, vinegar, and tea. Fundamental to high-quality leaves and fruits are improved seeds. “Research on mulberry is very limited in Pakistan, but it has more potential,” Farooq Bhatti said.