Journal of Scientific Research and Reports

Sericulture provides an important source of livelihood for many rural and tribal households in India. However, farmers engaged in sericulture often face occupational health risks, limited access to improved tools, weak value addition, and poor market linkages. To address these constraints, five capacity-building programmes were organised under the ICAR–Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) project in Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand. A total of 280 beneficiaries participated across the five programmes, with programme-specific enrolment of 80 in occupational health training (T1), 60 in ergonomic-tool training (T2), 50 in value-added product training (T3), 60 in visual merchandising training (T4), and 30 in cocoon-product exhibition and marketing (T5). Training was delivered at village and university settings through lectures, demonstrations, hands-on activities, and market exposure. Outcomes were evaluated using the participant group relevant to each training module rather than the aggregate total of 280. In T1, the mean knowledge score increased from 38.6% before training to 83.4% after training, a 44.8 percentage-point increase. Among T2 participants, adoption of at least one ergonomic tool increased from 13.3% at baseline to 68.3% at the three-month follow-up. Among T3 participants, 76.0% produced saleable value-added products after training. Participants also expressed high satisfaction, with an overall mean score of 4.62 out of 5.00. The findings indicate programme-associated improvements in occupational-safety knowledge, technology adoption, vocational skills, and marketing exposure, while the programme-specific denominators should be considered when interpreting these outcomes.