Speaking at the 43rd Annual General Meeting of the Indian Coir Association here, Board chairman Christy Fernandez said the institution has lined up a $ 8,00,000 loan from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for setting up an institutional framework for technology transfer, modernisation and skill formation and development in the age old coir industry.

According to the plan, the Board will set up five technological parks, three in Kerala, the cradle of the industry, one each in neighbouring Kranataka and Tamil Nadu.

Making a departure from the traditional model of technological parks, the new set up will adopt an entire coir producing village under the scheme and will set up model units for kindling technology transfer, modernisation and skill development in the sector, the Coir Board chairman has said.

"The new set up will groom the coir industry, which has been a hall mark for technological obsolescence and poor working conditions, to meet the challenges of the new millennium", Fernandez said.

He said the project will be funded with the financial assistance from UNIDO on an experimental basis for three years. The commodity board and the multilateral agency has sealed a deal for extending the financial assistance for the project recently. "UNIDO has agreed to release an initial amount of $8,00,000 for the venture with a provision of enhancing it to $ 1 million", the Board chairman has said.

The Board is also meeting on October 19 to decide about the recommendations of NCAER regarding the controversial MEP for coir and coir products. The NCAER has recommended the phasing out of MEP over the years taking into account the competitive nature of the world market. The exporters are crying wolf for the withdrawal of MEP for quite some time. However, a section of the coir industry has opposed the move saying that it would lead a drastic fall in raw material prices hitting the growers and workers badly.

The chairman also said that the recent trends in exports marked by higher quantity growth with lower value realisation would be reversed by the end of the current fiscal. During the April-September period the total coir exports, in quantity terms, has increased by over six per cent, while the total exports, in rupee terms, declined by three per cent, despite a progressive depreciation of the Indian rupee vis-a-vis the US greenback.

The Coir Board has come under heavy fire from certain quarters for this paradox as the critics attributed the value erosion to the lower MEP fixed by the Board early this fiscal.

Somanathan Pillai of Kerala Export Council (Kerexil) said that the state government is open to suggestions from the coir industry for improving the lot of the various players in the field. He said, the government has already taken up the matter of setting up a common effluent treatment plant for the industry in Alappuzha, where the industry is largely concentrated, with the Union Government. He has urged the coir industry to prepare A project report for the perusal of the state government.

He also said that the state government has took strong exception with the union commerce ministry for not announcing the Duty Entitlement Pass Book rates for coir despite umpteen requests. He said, the Centre is discriminating against the coir industry in this regard as it has slashed the duty under Export Promotion Capital Goods for the chemical industry to Rs one crore and announced the input-output norms and DEPB rates for some items with lower customs duty. He urged the industry associations to close ranks with the state government for putting pressure on the Centre in this regard.