China-Uzbekistan sericulture collaboration proceeds smooth as silk

Uzbekistan, with its long history of mulberry tree cultivation and silkworms raising, is now the third largest silk producer in the world. The cooperation between China and Uzbekistan in sericulture is blossoming under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) framework. There is especially extensive sericulture trade and technological exchange between the Central Asian country and Zhejiang province, east China.

Wang Yongqiang, director of the Institute of Sericulture, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said Zhejiang and Uzbekistan sericulture complement each other as they have different advantages.

Silkworm eggs from Zhejiang are of high quality and yield whereas the traditional Uzbek silkworm eggs can resist coldness and drought. Also, China has a clear advantage in silkworm raising techniques whereas Uzbekistan has lower land and labor costs, Wang said.

The Institute of Sericulture and Tea has been working closely with its counterparts in Uzbekistan for win-win results, including selecting high -quality varieties of sericulture appropriate for Uzbekistan, developing promotional technologies, building local demonstration bases in major production areas, conducting training for technicians, and facilitating the complementation of each other's advantages in technologies, resources and markets.

Shamsiddinov Navruzbek, director of Research Institute of Sericulture and Tea, Uzbekistan, said the cooperation in sericulture between the research institutions of the two countries has been going on for years, optimizing sericulture varieties and enhancing the technological level of gene analysis. Investments by enterprises have also been introduced to increase the income of silk farmers.

Wang said his team is conducting whole genome analysis of 45 representative sericulture germplasm resources of Uzbekistan to find the best resources and important functional genes, which would lay a solid foundation for future cooperation in variety breeding.