SERICUL TURE AND THE PROCESS OF CHANGE - Institute for ...

who have completed secondary or higher secondary schooling or
graduation as well as the drop-outs at these levels. The sericulture
attraction is greater when they do not foresee any other alternative
employment opportunities other than agriculture work. In the process,
sericulture inadvertently puts a hold on the tendency of some of these
rural youths to migrate to urban areas. The level of educational
attairunent also has a considerable influence on the level of sericulture
performance. This is evident from the differential levels of performance
corresponding to the differential levels of educational attainment though
it is not absolute.
Some sericulturists show keenness in learning anything that is
new and keep themselves in the good books of the officials and
extension staff. This out-goingness and sociability are also reflected in
their yield levels. They also display risk-taking ability and are ready to
be pioneers in adapting innovative ideas. Velayudham 14 in K K Pura
who started rationalising his traditional belief over the involvement of
menstrual women in silkworm rearing would definitely fall in this
category. This is also true of the Andhra farmer (Gregory 1994d), who
experimented with an innovative idea of rearing each laying in a
separate tray, from the start of the rearing, so that he could avoid any
contamination of disease, originating from the source. It is also only
such sericulturists who could also be selective in their purchase of
layings and effective in the marketing of their cocoons. Such
14
Refer Chapter 7, under the section on value dynamics, for the elaboration of
the case
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