As eastern China's sericulture areas shrink under rising land and labor costs, the southwestern plateau is becoming a new fulcrum for domestic cocoon-silk raw material supply. On July 30, the Qujing Modern Sericulture Innovation Demonstration Base was inaugurated in Shujing Village, Dongshan Town, Qilin District. The 300-mu scale seems modest, but it directly targets two chronic bottlenecks: improved variety breeding and technical experimentation that have long constrained the upgrade of sericulture in the southwest.
Background
The base is jointly established by the Sericulture and Bee Research Institute of Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, local government departments, and a leading agricultural company, and is also designated as a science-and-technology income-boosting demonstration base. Its location within the water source protection zone of Shujing Village means ecological red lines and industrial development are framed together—this is not a simple expansion of mulberry acreage, but an attempt to find higher output per unit area under environmental constraints.
The base plans four functional sections: introduction and trial of new mulberry varieties, demonstration of standardized planting and rearing, improved variety breeding, and sericulture-culture tourism integration. Variety breeding is the key. Although Yunnan ranks among the top cocoon-producing provinces, it has long relied on mulberry saplings and silkworm eggs from other provinces, resulting in insufficient local self-sufficiency and fluctuating cocoon quality that fails to meet the stringent requirements of high-end silk fabrics.
Qujing's climate supports multiple rearing cycles per year—6-7 batches compared to 4-5 in Jiangsu and Zhejiang—meaning more cocoons per unit of mulberry field, a natural advantage for intensive land use. The existing large-scale mulberry gardens in Ciying and Dongshan areas of Qilin District provide a ready-made radiation hinterland for the base.
Industrial Impact
From a value-chain perspective, this base aligns with the broader trend of "mulberry moving west, silk stabilizing east." Eastern reeling and weaving capacity remains, but upstream planting and rearing are shifting westward. Whoever controls high-quality raw material gains an edge in pricing power. For buyers, if standardized cultivation improves the raw silk yield and reelability of Yunnan cocoons, it will directly reduce reeling mills' raw material costs and minimize losses from quality inconsistency.
The "research institute + leading enterprise + base + farmers" model is core to transferring technology from lab to field. Previously, scattered farmers produced inconsistent quality. Now, research institutes supply improved varieties and processes, leading enterprises handle purchase and processing, and farmers follow standards—forming a closed loop. Once proven, this model can be replicated in surrounding counties, substantively reinforcing the raw material foundation of the southwest cocoon-silk cluster.
Another notable point is sericulture-culture tourism integration. Mulberry picking, sericulture study tours, and by-product utilization may not generate large profits in the short term, but they extend the value chain, utilize mulberry branches and silkworm waste, and enhance overall per-mu economic returns. For farmers, an additional income channel increases their willingness to maintain mulberry acreage, which is a long-term positive for supply stability.