Coir sector in Kerala has readied Rs 1,200-crore backward integration plans to fine-tune its raw material sourcing issues. This would be part-funded by the NCDC (National Co-operative Development Corporation).
“Considering the acute procurement issues of coir fibre in a state famed for coconut trees, Kerala finance minister TM Thomas Isaac has announced setting up of 1,000 de-fibering units that will procure and process as many as 2,000 million coconut husks. As soon as this long string of de-fibering units are ready all over the state, Coirfed ( an apex body of co-operative societies) would be able to deliver it to co-ops. We’ll also install about 1,000 automatic spinning machines. These measures are targetting to improve coir production threefold,” C Suresh Kumar, managing director, Coirfed told FE.
By replacing the polluting rutting process with de-fibering machinery, the state could incentivise local coconut husk procurement and de-fibering in a big way. This would also replace the raw material sourcing from faraway locales in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa and Andhra Pradesh, which was escalating the production costs and making margins too thin to be viable.
Kerala Budget, presented on February 2, had assured a second restructuring plan for coir sector, with a plan omnibus to the tune of Rs 1,200 crore for coir industry. This would be invested, across the next five years. For 2018-2019, the state has earmarked `211 crore for coir industry. NCDC had offered a special project monitoring unit for implementing the re-structuring plan. “Apart from the plan fund, coir sector could get NCDC credit support in implementing the restructuring plan,” Isaac had said.
Coir industry in Kerala is also working on forward integration plans. “Instead of banking on exports alone, the industry has gone ahead with efforts to tap the huge domestic market. “We’ve identified 500 marketing franchisees all over the country. Each of these will get `10 lakh as one-time grant for market promotion,” says N Padma Kumar, director, Coir, Kerala government.
The highlight of coir’s forward integration plans is the state’s decision to form a marketing corporation and that too one which allows, for the first time, a minority stake for private coir export firms. Coir business in Kerala is steamed by private entrepreneurs who account for over `1,000-crore coir exports.
Cash-flush civic bodies in the state too have teamed up to place orders for coir value-added products. Some of them have recently purchased `120-crore worth coir geo-textiles to reinforce soil and water conservation activities in its embankments.