starting in top left and going clockwise: Bealanana farmer cleaning cocoons before selling to SEPALI; Filomena and his wife and close family; weighing the cocoons before payment.

New cocoon deposit in September 2020:

This year is  special for Sepali Madagascar because we have noticed that the  volume of raw cocoons deposited by the villagers are triple what they were last year. Therefore, Mr Filemona ( Who is a Bealanana farmer) has deposited 39 kilos of Ceranchia cocoons last month, which brings the total volume of his deposit up to 120 kilos. Using the money that he earns from selling raw cocoons to Sepali, Filemona is catching up his financial deficit, due to the crisis amid Covid 19. Usually, Filemona and his wife is farming crops such as Kassava, sweet potatoes etc…and farming 26 pigs to be sold before every Madagascar`s independence day (in June 26^th). This year, the Independence Day celebration was canceled  and that has effect on each household revenue. Fortunately, Sepali extended its purchasing capacity of  raw cocoons to allow the villagers earning 28 USD per kilo of Ceranchia species; 10 USD/kilo of boroceras an Deborrea,  30 USD/kilo of bombyx and 60 USD/kilo of suraka.

Silk processing:

During September , the Sepali Madagascar team is continuing to make product such as baskets, placemats and table runners. Since last year, Sepali has started to dye our silks with natural dyes such as plant-leaves, bark, roots and seeds. Therefore, a couple of color have been developed so far. Despite the difficulty of the shipment, we continue to go ahead and export our products to Walla Walla to be sold online.

On Behalf of the Sepali Madagascar team, I address a special thanks to All of you who contribute to make our program survived during this hard time that we are facing.

Sincerely,

Mamy Ratsimbazafy