Coir industry hopes to weave success story

The Centre's budget proposal to grant Rs 22.5-crore assistance to the coir industry will mostly benefit Kerala, as the state manufacture more than 70 per cent of the coir-based value added products.

According to a senior official of the Coir Board, the Centre's assistance would be mainly used for modernisation of looms. The board has planned to replace the age-old looms by semi-automatic looms, thus ensuring the move does not hurt the people employed in this labour-intensive sector, he added.

The budget proposed to extend assistance to the coir industry in five states "" Kerala, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.

The union government has already approved the Coir Board project, which envisages an investment to the tune of Rs 195 crore for all-round development of the sector. The project will be implemented during the 11th Five-Year Plan.

According to the board official, the rest of the expense for automation would be mobilised through assistance from financial institutions and contribution made by the beneficiaries.

He said apart from the budget allocation, the government had earlier sanctioned Rs 57 crore for research and development, development of export and domestic market, welfare and skill development of coir workers in the next financial year.

The Union government has planned to convert 100,000 traditional coir looms into semi-automatic looms by the end of 11th Five-year Plan. Around Rs 100 crore will be invested in the programme.

A major reason hindering the marketing of coir products is the slow pace of the automation process. The Coir Board had developed two semi-automatic looms, Anugraha and Anupam, which costs Rs 1 lakh each.

Export of coir products has registered 7.33 per cent increase to 71,480 tonne during the first half of the current financial year (April - September), while the total earning from export has risen 13.79 per cent to Rs 268.43 crore.

During April - September, 2005, the country exported 66,934 tonne coir products valued at Rs 235.89 crore. The Coir Board has set a target of Rs 700 crore export during the current fiscal.

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A LONG ROPE

The Union government has planned to convert 100,000 traditional coir looms into semi-automatic looms by the end of 11th Five-year Plan

The union government has already approved the Coir Board project, which envisages an investment to the tune of Rs 195 crore for all-round development of the sector