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

at the non-institutional level for different purposes. Generally, the
credits that are sought for the benefit of sericulture are mostly of the
institutional ones and hardly anyone goes for private credit.
The non-institutional credits are availed from local finance
companies as well as from group credit schemes called chit funds, and
private money lending known as 'Kandhu Vatli'. The purposes for
availing credit are varied. These include agricultural needs like
cultivation of crops, buying of draught animals, as well as of buying
mulching and meat animals. Credit is also sought for the performance of
life cycle rituals like naming ceremony, initiation ceremony, marriage,
child birth, etc. Family needs like construction or repairing of houses,
religious needs like celebration of festival and pilgrimage, etc., also
involve credit requirements. Also during emergency needs like hospital
expenditure and performance of funeral rites, credit is sought by the
people.
As for sericulturists, credit relations would relate to the situations
of credit transactions where they are involved in, either as a receiver or
as a lender. As for the availing of credit, the sericulturists invariably
seek institutional credit, for the purpose of mulberry cultivation,
constructiion of separate rearing shed and for buying equipments. Credit
is one of the major developmental components of sericulture. Not all
sericulturists have gone for credit benefits for different reasons. One of
the main reasons for not approaching for bank credit is that the bankers
hesitate to extend credit facility to the sericulturists. The bankers claim
that the sericulturists are not prompt in repayment as they show poor
recovery rate. There are also no repayment linkages. Such are the
227