Silk weavers at work in Berhampur. Picture by Gopal Krishna Reddy

Berhampur, June 30: The hands that gave the city a silky sobriquet are fast falling idle.

Ganjam’s 200-year-old tryst with the silk industry is facing a crisis as many traditional weavers are gradually quitting their ancestral craft to make a professional shift.

There are 1,138 weaver families in Ganjam now, including around 200 in Berhampur. This number was more than 4,000 in Ganjam, of which 400 were in Berhampur, about a decade ago.

Old-time weavers say youths prefer other professions because this sector is not lucrative and they need more income to look after their families.

“Most weavers prefer to go to Surat or Hyderabad and work there as labourers,” said K. Surya Narayan, secretary, Chowdeswar Silk Weavers’ Co-operative Society.

Lack of proper marketing of their products seems to be another issue for the weavers, who either make losses or do not get enough returns for their hard work. The annual turnover of the silk business in Berhampur alone is Rs 2.30 crore, including Rs 1.30 crore of the three societies here — Chowdeswar Silk Weavers’ Co-operative Society, Berhampur Silk Weavers’ Co-operative Society and Berhampur Cotton and Silk Weavers’ Co-operative Society.

Two to three years ago, about 800 patto saris worth Rs 50 lakh had to be dumped at the godowns of the co-operative societies because of lack of proper marketing.

“Berhampur was famous for its silk products. When Ganjam came under the imperial authority of the British in 1766-67, the rajah of Mahuri visited Tanjore and Rajamahendri and invited the Telugu Lengayat Dera (weaver) community to come over Mahuri and work there, and thus a new era for silk industry started,” said Tripati Nayak, a city-based researcher.

The chief industry of Berhampur, as described by T.J. Maltby in the Ganjam District Manual, was the weaving of tusser silk that was manufactured into gold embroidered turbans, dresses and other articles.

The silk products of Berhampur find their way to Madras, Calcutta and other important places within the country and outside.

Assistant director, textiles, Upendra Kumar Devta, however, attributed the reason for the dwindling number of weavers to social factors.

“The weavers of today, especially the youngsters, have high aspirations. These they find can be fulfilled comparatively easily through other forms of employment,” he said. Devta, however, is optimistic about the future of silk weavers in the district.

“An important trend we have observed here is that many weavers who jump to other professions return to their parent profession later,” he said. “We are streamlining the production and marketing process and providing more financial benefits to the weavers to retain them,” said Devta.

Though the department of textiles is trying to woo weavers back from other professions to the handloom sector by providing training and looms, not many seem to want to return.

“We had tried to woo back 10 weavers of Talasakara near Balipadara in Ganjam district, who had left weaving 15 years ago and had switched over to other professions. Eight of them have returned to the handloom sector,” said Devta.

Secretary of the state handloom and textile department Aparajita Sarangi said there were many areas that need improvement to bring back weavers.

“We need to give them a marketing platform, which is inadequate right now. Capacity building, skill upgrade, finances and capital support is needed so that weavers can go beyond the plateau they have reached in the designing segment,” she said.

“The department is analysing the issues at the moment. We will take steps very soon,” she said.