Many farmers have switched over to sericulture from the conventional crops of paddy or groundnut in the central districts in the past two years. This has come in handy for officials of the Sericulture Department, which has planned to increase the area under sericulture in the Cauvery delta districts. Encouraged by the overwhelming response from farmers, the Department has planned to bring an additional 550 acres under sericulture (230 acres in Tiruchi district; 117 in Thanjavur; 65 in Perambalur; 112 in Pudukottai and 26 at the foot of the Pachamalai Hills). What is more interesting is the overwhelming response from women farmers in Thnajavur district, says C. Sam Devadas, Deputy Director of Sericulture (in charge), Tiruchi. Though the Department has announced an increase in the subsidy for plantation, setting up of sheds, supply of racks and drip irrigation equipment, banks are reluctant to realise the prospects of mulberry cultivation, says S. Sathyaseelan, secretary of the District Supply and Marketing Society, Pudukottai, which has been motivating the farmers to take to sericulture by floating seven self-help groups of men farmers. "Banks do not look at sericulture as farming,' he says. So, the society has resorted to on-lending procedure by taking a loan of Rs. 15 lakh for the benefit of sericulture farmers.