Komagane City and “Community-Reactivating Cooperator Squad”
Initiatives in Komagane City
In March this year, KAICO signed a regional revitalization collaboration agreement regarding the new project for the Komagane Silk Museum with Komagane City (Nagano Prefecture) and KAICO, aiming to revive the sericulture industry.
This agreement aims to contribute to regional economic development and local revitalization by working together to restore sericulture in Komagane City. In Komagane City, under the leadership of Museum Director Mr. Banno at the Komagane Silk Museum, sericulture is currently being conducted by repurposing formerly unused teachers’ housing.
In this sericulture revival project, Ms. Mahiro will also participate as a member of the “Community-Reactivating Cooperator Squad”.
About Community-Reactivating Cooperator Squad
The Community-Reactivating Cooperator Squad program involves individuals migrating from urban regions to areas experiencing significant population decline and aging, where they engage in local revitalization support activities such as developing, selling, and promoting local brands and products, participating in agricultural, forestry, and fishery industries, and providing community support. Through these ‘regional cooperation activities’, the program aims to promote settlement and integration into the local community. The volunteers are appointed by individual local governments, and the specific activities, conditions, and compensation vary depending on the recruiting municipality. The term of service is generally between 1 to 3 years.
Silkworm Breeding Diary
From now on, we will regularly post a silkworm breeding diary for Komagane City in this column. We aim to share our initiatives in Komagane City with everyone and seek collaboration and partnerships with municipalities and companies who are interested in supporting and challenging themselves to revive the sericulture industry alongside KAICO.
In this initiative, KAICO will purchase all produced silkworms as raw materials for oral vaccines and other applications, thereby contributing to local economic revitalization.