An Indonesian village near Yogyakarta has turned to cultivating rare silk cocoons to boost their income during the annual drought season.
The Karang Tengah village, south of Yogyakarta, has acres of cashew nut farms that produce one of Indonesia's famed exports. But the drought season, shrivels the trees and leaves the farmers without much income.
However, a local farmer's organisation has started cultivating the rare gold cocoons for organic silk that is much sought after in Japan, to make its famed kimono robes. They received help under an organic silkworm development workshop started by the Yogyakarta royal family in 1994, to improve the income of traditional farmers. Gusti Kanjeng ratu Pembayun, a princess in the Yogyakarta Royal Family, oversees the workshop and said some parts of the process is still a trade secret, particularly spinning the cocoon into silk floss.She added the silk floss is used to make the highly prized handicrafts that are famous in Yogyakarta.
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