Torbat-e Heydarieh, the silk capital of Iran
If we consider silk as a component of Iranian identity, we have not gone astray, and if we say that the heart of this identity beats in the “Bayg” of Torbat-e Heydariyeh, Khorasan Razavi, we have not said too much, although today the heartbeat is numbered and the decision to “localize” it is recreated. it is needed.
20 provinces of the country are active in the field of weaving industry, of which Gilan province is the center of wet silk cocoon production and Khorasan Razavi province, in addition to having the second rank of wet cocoon production, with 85% of the country’s silk yarn, is the silk capital of Iran. comes.
Baig section to the center of Baig city, located 20 km northwest of Torbat Heydariyeh, with eight villages named Goshan, Sorkhabad, Rud Majan, Razak, Fadieh, Hesar, Khorshbar and Bask, one of the main areas of prosperity and silk production in Khorasan Razavi province Is.
Forty-five days are enough for the small, black eggs to hatch and become valuable silk cocoons, and as a by-product of economic activity alongside agriculture and horticulture in the spring, they become the thriving part of the table for thousands of families.
The production of silkworm cocoons eventually leads to the completion of an artistic chain called silk weaving, which is one of the handicrafts of this region.
The weaving of silk threads from fibers derived from silk cocoons has a long history in Iran and dates back to prehistoric times among the rural people of this land.
National registration of the first village and town of Iranian silk in Torbat Heydariyeh
Besk village, one of the functions of Baig Torbat Heydariyeh district, with a population of 3,400 people, along with its natural and historical attractions, has preserved the silk-weaving profession as the ancestral occupation of the people of this region, and the villagers are full of gentle nature and taste. In addition to all the beauties of God-given nature of the region and the tourist attractions of their village, they are also engaged in the art of silk weaving.
In August 1397 AH, with the presence of a group of national and local officials of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts, the national registration document of Bask village was unveiled as the only national handicraft village of Khorasan Razavi in the field of silk weaving and the then director general of cultural heritage. Khorasan Razavi Handicrafts and Tourism said in a statement: This province has more than three thousand villages, of which only “Bask” Torbat Heydariyeh has registered the title of national village of handicrafts in the field of silk weaving in its name.
Abolfazl Makramifar called this action a prelude to the global registration of this silk village and added: “Besk will soon be introduced as a global village in the field of silk weaving, which can prevent the unauthorized entry of foreign silk thread into the country and the establishment of the silk profession.” Killing in the ranks of hard and harmful jobs of the Social Security Organization.
He said: creating a silk handicraft house in the village, setting up a centralized processing workshop, production and training from the stage of yarn extraction to silk fabric weaving, including weaving, cocooning, bleaching, dyeing, spinning, weaving and fine weaving, creating service and welfare infrastructure and Tourism in the village of Besk to attract tourists, solve the problem of artists’ insurance and create a silk museum in the Baig area is one of the suggestions and programs of the General Directorate in this area.
Support for this action and a year later, in August 1998, the city of “Baig” Torbat-e Heydariyeh was selected and introduced by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism as the first national silk-making city in Iran.
The head of the Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Department of Torbat-e Heydarieh and Zaveh told IRNA about the measures that have been taken since then in Baig and the village of Besk, as well as the work that should have been done and is still on the ground: There are about 2,400 potential artists in the silk-weaving profession in the area, which has been reduced to about 400 out of a total of 1,200 traditional silk-weaving workshops in Baig due to the lack of raw materials. There are only 800 people per season, and if the required raw materials are provided, which is 1,800 tons per year, another 800 workshops will resume their activities.
Ali Mohammadi added: “Of course, the new approach is to complete the production chain until consumption after the production of yarn, or in other words, the revival of silk-related products such as weaving, ribbon weaving and fine weaving, and now 20 artists are working in this field.”
He added: “In this regard, the Silk Handicrafts House has been set up and equipped in the vicinity of the Baig Silkworm Cooperative, in which all stages of production, including training in silk-related handicrafts, including silk weaving, silk weaving, dyeing and processing of silk and gold weaving.” Ongoing by leading professors in the field.
He added: “In Nowruz this year, due to the general conditions of the country, we again saw the presence of tourists and the establishment of various festivals in the region, which could signal the resurgence of the silk weaving profession and the art of silk weaving in this region.”
Decide with whom, Tehran or Torbat Heydariyeh? The problem is
We should not blame the local officials, provincial managers or national decision-makers for the decades-long negligence of the cocooners of Torbat-e Heydariyeh city; But a bitter historical fact that has plagued many activists in the professions and occupations of Iranian tribes and clans to this day is that, unfortunately, the main axis of decision-making in the country always begins in the capital and ends in Tehran. It is as if non-native managers are always and everywhere better acquainted with problems than native and local managers, and they can make better decisions and provide solutions.
This is the same problem that a group of Baig Torbat-Heydariyeh cocoons complain about, saying that whenever they raise their problems with local managers, they give us the right and say, “This circular was issued from Tehran and we have the power to express it.” “We have no idea.”
The activities of beggars and cocooners, often starting from the 20th of Farvardin every year and usually last about three months, and according to this working class, the rest of the year should be looking for fake jobs or with the help of intermediaries with Keep imported foreign cocoons busy.
“Our whole problem started when the brokers took advantage of the negligence of the authorities and those involved in the field and brought cheap and cheap foreign cocoons into the area,” a silk killer in Baig told IRNA.
Hossein Pakzad Baigi added: “Although foreign cocoons do not have the quality of domestic samples, but because they are cheap and on the other hand, they provided the basic food throughout the year, so the cocoon workers were gradually attracted to this direction.”
He said: “Of course, the problem was exacerbated when the dealers even imported substandard silk yarn from China, which was in fact a shot in the arm of the Baig silk industry.”
The head of a silk-weaving workshop in Baig told IRNA: “An average of 2 kilograms of yarn is obtained from every five kilograms of cocoons. Assuming that the workshops are active every day, 800 kilograms of yarn should be produced per day, but in practice this is the case.” No, because the workshops may not be more active for 10 to 20 days a month.
Ali Mohammadzadeh Baigi added: “Every worker should start his work from three o’clock in the morning, which usually lasts until 12 noon, which is now the time for cocoon work, and if the activists in this field work hard, maybe only about 80 million a year.” Take Rials in their hands.
Regarding the payment of wages to silk workers, he said: “The wage of a worker is not a day, but usually for a cocoon item, which is equivalent to five kilograms, they are paid an average of 700,000 rials a day, which is not a lot, especially since working with the machine.” Silkworm is also “carcinogenic”.
Baigi added: If a workshop wants to work with Iranian cocoons, it will not have more than three months from the 20th of Farvardin, when the purchase of Noghan eggs begins, until the cocoon is put into operation, and during the year, if intermediaries import foreign cocoons, the workshops can operate. Their working period will not reach 6 months in total.
He said: “Our other problem is that local officials do not have much power to change the current situation because the dictated decisions are mainly made in the center of the province or Tehran.”
40% of decisions are made by local managers
The CEO of Beyg Torbat-e-Heydariyeh Silk Cooperative also told IRNA: “An important part of the backwardness in this field is due to lack of love and requires serious determination. Accordingly, specialized working groups should be formed with the cooperation of executive bodies, knowledge-based companies and universities.” Plan area.
Alireza Vosoughinejad added: “Although we present our views to the higher officials in order to improve the current situation, but in the end, their opinion is considered valid for us, and in other words, our role in the country’s macro-decisions is only about 40%. Our better and more knowledge of the region, this figure is not enough.
He explained some of the measures taken by this cooperative company to help Noghandari activists in the region and said: “According to a contract with the Ministry of Jihad for Agriculture, within 2 consecutive years, Noghan’s eggs will be imported in 10,044 boxes and distributed among Noghandars.” We made the country.
Vosoughi Nejad, stating that there are now an average of 300 workshops in Baig, added: “These workshops produce 600 kg of raw silk yarn per day, which the average annual income of each worker from this place is 240 million rials.”
Regarding the solution to the problems of cocoons, he said: “The most important solutions are to prevent the illegal entry of silk thread, import cocoons instead of silk thread to supply raw materials for workshops and increase the import duty of raw silk with a 26 percent tariff from the agricultural jihad.”
Vosoughi Nejad added: “In order to improve the value of customs duties on raw silk yarn, the basis for customs valuation for imports should be calculated at a daily or half price and the Ministry of Silence or Textile and Garment Industries should follow it through Iranian customs and also revive production.” Domestic Noghan eggs in Torbat-e Heydarieh, allocating the import of imported Noghan eggs to rural cooperatives and guaranteed purchase of domestic silk yarn by the National Carpet Center of Iran, are some of our other suggestions to solve the problems of cocoons.
The CEO of Baig Torbat-e-Heydariyeh Silk Sector continued to point out the role of the government and stated: Supporting the silk industry and the art of the silk industry, supporting production cooperatives in this sector, providing low-interest facilities to rural cooperatives, foreign exchange support for importing imported eggs and laying eggs Noghan is one of the other goods of our group to offer economics in this field.
Revival of the country’s Noghan egg production center to the center of Torbat-e Heydariyeh soon
The director of Khorasan Razavi Noghandari Development Center also told IRNA: “One of the current problems in this sector is the import of low quality Noghan eggs because the best Noghan eggs are those that are produced in accordance with Iran’s climatic conditions.”
Azim Nasiri added: 85 years ago, the General Directorate of Noghandari of the whole Khorasan region was established in Torbat-e Heydarieh, and at that time, this city alone produced 75% of Iran’s silk.
He said: In 2016, due to the outbreak of “Pebrin” disease, the Veterinary Organization ordered the closure of silk weaving workshops in Torbat-e Heydarieh and Mazandaran to cut the chain of outbreaks.
Nasiri said that the organization has now issued a permit to reactivate the workshops, adding: “Since our workshop equipment needs to be renovated and updated due to a five-year closure, during the recent visit of the High Representative to Torbat Heydariyeh, his joint research project We presented with Torbat-e Heydariyeh University.
He stated: “According to this, we need 25 billion Rials of credit for the reopening of the Noghan egg production center, which, of course, has been approved in principle, and from next year, this center will start producing Noghan eggs.”
The director of Khorasan Razavi Noghandari Development Center said: “One of our other measures is hatching Noghan eggs which is being done by Noghan Gostar Torbat Heydariyeh Cooperative Company and it is recommended that Noghandars buy one-day larvae because this can reduce the breeding period.” .
Nasiri added: The distribution of 18,000 boxes of Noghan eggs has started from the beginning of April this year in the provinces of Khorasan Razavi, South Khorasan and North Khorasan, which will continue until the end of May.
He said: out of this amount of distributed Noghan eggs, 15,000 boxes of Noghan eggs are imported and this year the distributed boxes are prepared from 2 types of Iranian and Chinese and each box will be provided to Noghan farmers at a price of 150,000 Rials.
The director of Khorasan Razavi Noghan Development Center continued: Due to the decrease in rainfall, Noghan farmers should buy the Noghan eggs they need as soon as possible.
Nasiri said: this province is the second largest producer of silk cocoons in the country after Gilan and more than 70% of the cocoons produced in the country are turned into silk thread in the silk weaving workshops of “Baig” city and “Besk” village of Torbat-e Heydariyeh.
The 225,000-strong city of Torbat-e Heydarieh is located 150 km south of Mashhad.