Hanging by a Thread

Silkworm farmers and weavers struggling to restore centuries-old traditions that were dealt severe setbacks during Khmer Rouge era. 

Published: 12/11/2012 

Bangkok Post 

Writer: Philip Heijmans 

Cambodia’s tradition of silk-production is one that dates back as far as the 13th century. A long-standing symbol of status for the rich and the country, ancient Angkorian silk-producing Cambodia bore unique weaving and reeling techniques that have been passed down from generation to generation and exist to this very day.

But since the horrifying Khmer Rouge regime more than 40 years ago all but eliminated silk farming, the sector has been slow to recover and has fallen behind other regional producers using more modern and efficient systems. As a result, many silk experts and weavers believe that the age old tradition may be on its last threads.

“The reality is that the Cambodian silk industry, especially silk thread production, is having trouble right now and that is a shame for a country that used to have great reputation with its unique yellow cocoon called ‘golden silk’,” said fashion designer Eric Raisina, who owns high-end clothing stores in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh.

“Golden silk is really what Cambodian silk production is all about,” he said. “In fact, it is the best in Southeast Asia because of its bright authentic yellow colour and great texture, which creates a unique thread. Cambodian silk also used to be well known for its patterns.”

Mr Raisina is only one of a few local designers able to acquire authentic Cambodian silk to make pieces for his shops, fashioning anything from silk scarves to beautiful dresses. But because supply is low, most designers including himself tend to use silk imported from Thailand and China, he said.

“The quantity is very low, so I have to use what I can get only for exclusive pieces, even then, customers have to be ready to pay the price,” he said.

In fact, production of silk yarn in Cambodia has slowly declined in recent years, from five tonnes in 2009 to about 4 tonnes a year today and because there is still a huge demand for the product, weavers must import silk yarn from other countries. Cambodia imports approximately 400-tonnes worth each year, at a price tag of US$25,000 per tonne, or nearly $10 million in all.

In Phnom Penh is the weavers’ haven known as Koh Dach, or Silk Island in Khmer. But the generations old silk weaving families here only use imported silk. The costs of importing the yarn are far outweighed by the production costs for authentic Cambodian silk, which now costs more than ever at about $70 per kilogramme of yarn, compared to just $30 per kg in 2010. With demand for local silk outstripping supply, prices have increased accordingly — presenting both a boon and a bust for the domestic industry. Ven On, a 60-year-old silk weaver in Takeo province’s Prey Kabbas district, said that she is currently only able to make about $50 a month on her silk scarves and traditional sarongs as buyers are mostly unable to afford them.

“I make only a little money and I can’t support my family,” she said, adding that because of the high cost of Cambodian yarn, there is very little money to be made.

While Ms. On said that she sells one of her hand-woven sarongs for between $120 and $150, depending on its quality, of that price her profit is only 10%.

The quality of Cambodian-made silk is, generally, poorer than that of other regional producers due to the traditional manual reeling process that produces a courser silk fabric, which is not desired by a luxury market.

In more developed silk-producing markets such as China and India, which together produce more than 90% of the world’s silk supply, the process is automated using reeling machines, while hand reeling is more time consuming and inefficient.

“When you reel by hand, you also have less production and the quality of the silk is comparatively low because the hand is not as refined” as machines, said Kong Samoeung, a silk expert at Cambodia’s Ministry of Agriculture.

“Research and development for this sector is very low. Technology is the future of silk,” he said.

Another issue facing the Cambodian silk industry is that it is becoming less and less profitable for silkworm farmers, as disease is killing-off more than half of all production, while outdated farming techniques are slowing the process down, said Mey Kalyan, director of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Cambodian silk programme.

“In a nutshell, the farmers have stopped doing it. The weavers have stopped weaving and the plantations have stopped growing mulberries needed to feed silkworms,” he said, looking over a three-hectare mulberry plantation at the government’s primary silk farm in Kandal province’s Kien Svay district.

“Disease is killing more than 50% of the silkworms, while those that do survive, are a third of the size compared to other regional producers, so inefficiencies are high,” Mr Kalyan said.

“At the end of the day, these conditions are no longer acceptable to farmers in terms of the labour cost and land used for mulberry.”

In the 1940s there were about 6,000 hectares of land under mulberry cultivation nationwide producing as much as 20 tonnes of silk yarn each year. In the intervening years, however, unrest in the countryside, civil war and the Khmer Rouge years saw the industry decimated.

Today, Cambodia has just 40 hectares of mulberry plantations, and if the domestic demand for silk was to be supplied by domestic productions it would require around 4,000 hectares of land devoted to mulberry, Mr Kalyan said.

Established by the FAO, Cambodia’s lone Silkworm Egg Production Center in Phnom Penh is part of a $475,000 silk industry rehabilitation project that was launched in September 2009, and which saw the building of seven silk farms across the country and funded silk production training for those interested in the industry.

But after three years, funds from the FAO to run the silkworm egg production centre will run out by the end of this year and no one else seems interested to invest in the project.

Even with the Cambodian silk sector facing such a bleak outlook, there is a glimmer of hope, Mr Kalyan said.

After nearly three years of research, researchers at the silkworm egg production centre are now in possession of a new silkworm hybrid called ‘Eri’ — a type of silkworm that feeds exclusively on cassava, and does not need mulberry.

Cassava is planted throughout Cambodia and access to the food of silkworms might encourage their breeding, he said.

“It is still too early since we just got it in last week, but the benefits of this one can be huge since Cambodia does not have to worry about cassava. But we will have to wait and see,” Mr Kalyan said.