Silkworm seed farming breathes new life into a traditional craft

These days, Dong Sam village in Tran Yen commune, Lao Cai province, is deep into silkworm seed season. Across the hamlet - from inside homes to out in the fields, residents are busy tending their silkworm trays and mulberry rows at every turn. Mulberry cultivation and silkworm raising have been part of life here for generations, but in recent years, with reliable markets and favorable prices, the trade has delivered increasingly tangible economic returns.

Land that once grew other crops has been converted to mulberry. The family of Nguyen Van Vinh is a case in point. The solid brick home he recently completed, worth more than 1 billion VND (～39,200 USD), was built largely on income from mulberry and silkworms. Vinh recalls that life used to be a struggle. Once a cocoon-purchasing factory opened locally, farmers could commit to the trade with confidence, and incomes rose noticeably and steadily.

In Dong Sam, seven or eight out of every ten households grow mulberry and raise silkworms. Mulberry has become the dominant crop, the primary food source for the worms, and farmers manage their land carefully to ensure a steady supply of leaves across successive broods.

Raising silkworm seeds is far more demanding than it might appear. The work requires patience, precision, and near-constant attention, not unlike caring for a newborn. For seed-raising households, the day begins before dawn. In Vinh's home, the family is up by 4 a.m. to prepare fresh mulberry leaves, which must be picked and cut to sizes suited to the worms' age and developmental stage.

The worms are fed three times a day, each feeding session lasting roughly two and a half hours. The routine is repetitive but unforgiving. Farmers must closely monitor their worms, adjust feed quantities, and keep the rearing environment consistently clean. Young silkworms are especially delicate and susceptible to disease, so hygiene is paramount. After each brood, all equipment, trays, nets, and frames, must be disinfected and thoroughly washed before the next cycle begins.

Vinh notes that seed raising is harder than cocoon raising because of the exacting care it demands. Temperature, humidity, and feed quality must all be precisely controlled; a single lapse can ruin an entire brood. There is little downtime in a seed farmer's day, after feeding the worms, it is back to the garden to tend and harvest mulberry, then back to the rearing room. The cycle repeats from dawn to dusk, and during peak season, the work is essentially continuous.

Keeping the seed supply local

Dong Sam farmers run two main silkworm seed cycles each year, a spring season from February through May, and an autumn season from July through late October. Between the two, the mulberry trees are pruned and allowed to recover, creating a production rhythm that runs nearly year-round.

Vinh's household manages about 20 land units of mulberry to supply a 150-square-meter rearing room fitted with nearly 50 trays. Each cycle, the family incubates around 10 egg rings, yielding roughly 16 trays of seedlings. Each land unit of mulberry generates around 4.5 million VND（～176 USD) in revenue, with a net return of close to 4 million VND (~157 USD) per year after costs. Combined, the household earns approximately 90 million VND (~3,530 USD) annually from silkworm seed farming, a solid income by rural standards.

There was a period when labor shortages pushed the family toward cocoon raising, which is less demanding. But when circumstances allowed, Vinh returned to seed farming, not only for the higher returns, but out of a desire to help maintain a reliable local seed supply and make life easier for fellow villagers raising cocoon silkworms.

Today, Dong Sam's seed-farming households primarily supply cocoon-raising families within and around the village, with prices ranging from 200,000 to 210,000 VND (~7.85-8.25 USD) per tray. Since the season began, local producers have incubated more than 200 egg rings, meeting seed demand across several surrounding areas.

The development of specialized seed-supply households has made the broader mulberry and silkworm industry in Dong Sam more cohesive. Cocoon farmers no longer depend on outside sources for their seedlings, cutting transport costs and giving them greater confidence in quality. A transparent, stable seed supply has also raised overall production efficiency.

In the rhythm of rural life, the sight of Dong Sam residents bent over their silkworm trays and mulberry rows has become as familiar as the seasons themselves. The work is demanding and time-consuming, but it yields steady income, enough to help families gradually improve their lives and build more comfortable homes.

Silkworm seed farming does more than generate income. It helps preserve a local tradition, and in the course of day-to-day production, households support and rely on one another in ways that strengthen community bonds. From those small rearing trays, a mulberry-to-silk production chain is taking shape, stable, sustainable, and capable of sustaining the craft for generations to come.

$ 1 = VND 26,387 - Source: Vietcombank.