Silk is a prominent part of our country’s sartorial identity. Silk garments are a key part of Indian fashion. Particularly saris serve as a cultural card for the country’s weaving communities. Even those who have never visited places like Mysore and Kanchipuram, Varanasi or Bhagalpur, Chanderi, Tirubhuvanam and Varanasi are well-known for their silks.

ReshaMandi, a Karnataka-based startup in silk agritech, is working to bring together different strands of this industry through IoT and app-based services.

India is the only country to produce all five commercial silks — mulberry and tropical tussar and oak tussar and eri. Mulberry silk, which was produced in 25,345 tonnes in 2018-19, is the most popular.

Switching to science

India is the second-largest consumer of silk in the world and the second-largest producer. However, it doesn’t fare well on the sericulture stage. Although silk production began in India in the 15th century, it is still a cottage industry that needs to be organized. According to the Central Silk Board estimates, sericulture employs 9.18 million people in India’s rural and semi-urban areas.

Moriculture, which is the cultivation of mulberry to raise silkworms, is only the beginning of this silken journey. It has always been more about subjective perceptions and scientific calculations. Surprisingly there have been very few changes in the production of silk over the centuries. Because the Bombyx Mori moth (silkworm) cocoons are still in their pupa stage, they have a short life span. Stifling, which involves boiling, baking, steaming cocoons, kills the pupa inside and allows human workers to find the end of the thread to unwound manually or mechanically. This dark side of silk has been a source of ethical concern in recent years. Many moth-friendly alternatives have been created, such as “wild silk” and “Ahimsa silk, ” allowing the silkworm’s life cycle to be completed.

The silk supply chain has always struggled to know exactly what it is producing in terms of quality. The price fluctuations of silk [mulberry] cocoons are not easily understood by farmers, and reelers, who use arbitrary testing methods, may bias against products from certain regions. “We are trying to change that by using quality as a benchmark for both pricing and production,” Mayank Tiwari (founder and CEO of ReshaMandi silk agritech startup), based in Bengaluru.

In April 2013, Tiwari and Saurabh Agarwal co-founded ReshaMandi. The goal was to digitize sericulture production, from farming to thread processing (reelers units) to fabric weavers to business organisations using platforms based on Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things (IoT).

The startup has been involved with 7,500 mulberry growers, 560 reeling plant operators, and 3,840 weaving units.

Letting quality speak

In the beginning, the startup helped solve logistics problems for reelers and sericulture farmers due to transport restrictions.

The company’s app-based services include cocoon sourcing, grading, farmer advisories, disease detection in Chawki (young Silkworms), and fair price marketing.

Fasal, a Bengaluru-based startup in agritech, has also joined the company to create an innovative precision farming project. This project aims to conserve water and increase the mulberry leaf yield.

ReshaMandi makes it possible to have cocoon grading results within one day. This speeds up the process. The startup removes all geographical information and tags cocoon lots with their quality scores. This guarantees fair prices.

“ReshaMandi’s certificate has been a quality handle by farmers and reelers. This is also presented to weavers. Tiwari says that if we know the denier (a measure of the linear mass density fibres equal to the weight of 9,000 meters of silk) we can calculate the exact number of saris that can be weaved with it.”

ReshaMandi provides two IoT devices for farmers. One monitors the soil’s moisture and carbon content, and the other maintains the ideal temperature, humidity, and quality in the rearing shed. The app is available for free, but subscriptions are required to access the devices monthly.

An app is installed on a farmer’s smartphone to connect them (Android 5.0 or higher). Google Play Store has the app, ‘ReshaMandi: The New Silk Route’. It was developed in-house. ReshaMandi can send textual advice via the phone using sensors installed in the field or rearing sheds. Follow-up calls are available if necessary.

D Raghu, a farmer from Ittanguru village, Sarjapur, Karnataka, has been growing mulberry for over ten years on his three-acre plot. His earnings have increased by at least 30% since he signed up for ReshaMandi eight months ago. He says that ReshaMandi has allowed him to decrease the amount of water required for irrigation. Now, he can share his surplus with other farms around the area.

ReshaMandi handles the marketing once Raghu has his cocoons ready. Raghu used to be able to expect to obtain around 200 kilograms of silk with 200 DFL chawki. However, ReshaMandi’s farming advice has raised this to 230-235 kg.

Karan Gowda (an agronomist who works for ReshaMandi) says that “Mulberry Leaf Quality is the most important aspect of sericulture.”

He explains, “If the leaves become too moist (as a consequence of overwatering), silkworms can bloat or die.” The silkworm may be killed in the cocoon if they become too dry. Imperfect cocoon silk can affect the final product. The threads tend to tear more easily, so it is important to accurately measure irrigation. The IoT device regulates water levels according to farm soil conditions. To avoid pests and diseases in mulberry farming, we recommend that farmers use organic fertilisers.

ReshaMandi founder Tiwari says silk has many other uses than luxurious clothing. Medical bandages can be made from keratin extracted from silk cocoons. We have partnered with Mori, a Boston-based technology company that uses silk protein to make protective layers that slow down the three main mechanisms that cause food spoilage. Silk-based coatings are suitable for food packaging. He says that the silkworms’ waste can be used as fodder for fisheries.

ReshaMandi reached out to weavers in Benares and Maheshwari this year, Chanderi and Salem, and silk-producing areas in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. I hope Indian retailers will understand the importance of becoming digital. Tiwari says that silk retailers must learn to adapt to the new customer base, as more people stay in during the pandemic.

Source:- The Hindu

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