The projects involving Tk 148.95 crore that the government took up have failed to revive the silk sector in a decade.
The authorities have already spent Tk 103.01 crore, as Sericulture Development Board data show, but the projects have hardly worked to revive the industry.
The production of silk yarn, used in luxurious, traditional clothing such as sari, punjabi and shawl, decreased in the past financial year compared with the production of the 2015 financial year.
The board could produce only 1,134 kilograms of yarn from 149 tonnes of cocoons in the 2024 financial year.
But, it produced 1,229 kilograms of yarn from 123 tonnes of cocoons in the 2015 financial year, the board鈥檚 annual reports show.
Official data show that the agency has taken five projects involving Tk 148.95 crore since 2013 to expand and develop of the silk industry.
Bangladesh has a demand for 400 tonnes of yarn a year and about 90 per cent of the demand is met with import.
Only one project, Integrated Plan for Expansion and Development of Sericulture in Bangladesh (2nd Phase), involving Tk 49.73 crore is now under way.
The three-year project, scheduled to end in June 2024, has, however, made a 46 per cent progress so far. A proposal for a two-year extension of the project has already been sent to the ministry, officials said.
The project had a target of producing 55 tonnes of yarn from 782 tonnes of cocoons.
The area for mulberry farming under the board has also decreased to 137.61 acres in the 2024 financial year from 148.5 acres in the 2015 financial year, the latest annual report shows.
Md Liakat Ali, the president of Bangladesh Silk Industry Owners鈥� Asscoaition, has claimed that yarn production has decreased because of fund mismanagement and misappropriation.
He has said that they urged the authorities stop the government鈥檚 absolute control of cocoon and silk yarn production.
Liakat said that 70 private silk factories in the Rajshahi BSCIC area, out of 76, had been closed for years for lack of silk yarn.
鈥榃hen neighboring countries continuously progress in the silk sector, why do we lag behind?鈥� said Ahmed Shafi Uddin, president of the Rajshahi district unit of Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik.
Raw silk yarn production has increased to 38,913 tonnes in India, as Central Silk Board of India web site says, in the 2024 financial year from 31,906 tonnes in the 2018 financial year.
The Bangladesh Sericulture Development Board director general Md Anwar Hussain could not be reached for comments despite repeated attempts.
The director (administration and extension) Mohammad Emdadul Bari put the decrease in production down to human resource crunch.
Md Kamruzzaman, a former deputy chief accounts officer of the board, however, blamed corruption and irregularities in the board for the sorry state of the silk sector.
He alleged that 90 per cent of the information in the board鈥檚 annual report was 鈥榙octored鈥�, noting that the officials come up with fabricated data to show an increased production.
Aminuzzaman Md Saleh Reza, a professor of zoology in the University of Rajshahi, said that despite enormous potential, the silk sector is on the verge of extinction, mostly because of flawed policies and lack of proper planning and implementation.
鈥榃e tend to think that silk is a non-profit sector. As we cannot get over it, we do not try hard to revive the industry,鈥� he added.
He also blamed delay in fund release, lack of skilled human resources, adequate research, and coordination for the failure of project implementation.
