Coir Board draws up plans to avert coconut husk shortage in Kerala

Coir Board has joined hands with the Kerala government to avert the serious shortage of coconut husk, which badly hit the functioning of coir units in the state.

“Under the initiative, coir-husk producing states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh will make husk available to Kerala. To this effect, a blueprint for a project to the tune of Rs 2 crore has been submitted to the Centre with an aim to provide a subsidy of 15 per cent of the total cost,” said Coir Board chairman VS Vijayaraghavan.

A meeting of Coir Board’s regional officers from these husk-producing states was convened and deliberations on making husk available were held in a serious manner. As per the reports of the regional offices, it is possible to make available 10 truck loads of raw husk and 5 truck loads of brown husk every week from Tamil Nadu.

The Karnataka State Coir Development Corporation (KSCDC) has a stock of 10 tonne raw husk and 60 tonne brown husk. Besides, there are possibilities for KSCDC for providing raw husk to the tune of 5 loads and 15 loads of brown husk per week. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh has the potential to provide 9 loads of brown husk on a weekly basis, Vijayaraghavan said.

The Central Coconut Research Institute (CCRI) has taken up the work on developing a mobile unit, which would be effective in separating coconut husk, he said, adding that the board planned to hold an exhibition of the mobile unit at Kalavoor in Alappuzha district shortly.

Vijayaraghavan said the board had already taken over as many as 56 integrated development project (IDP) units, which had remained dormant, to infuse fresh life into them. As part of this, the board had ratified the estimates submitted by a team of technical experts who had visited these units, he added.

The Coir Board has sanctioned Rs 10 lakh for modernisation of two IDP units in Palakkad district of Kerala. The shortage of coconut husk in Kerala is being attributed to the lack of procurement of coconuts as per the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) guidelines, Vijayaraghavan said.