The Hindu Business Line : Efforts on to rejuvenate coir sector: Minister

Thiruvananthapuram May 22 The Kerala Government has initiated a number of steps to rejuvenate the State's coir sector, according to the Minister for Co-operation, Coir and Devaswom, Mr G. Sudhakaran.

As part of the efforts, the activities of the public sector Kerala State Coir Corporation and Foam Mattings Ltd would be redefined so as to make them work for the integrated development of the coir sector. Both the institutions were expected to come out of the red in the next financial year, the Minister said here.

Optimal Utilisation

Similarly, the Government has prepared a revival proposal for the Kerala State Co-operative Marketing Federation Ltd (Coirfed), the apex body of coir co-operative societies, and has commenced work.

Mr Sudhakaran said that the Government had earmarked Rs 51 crore for the coir sector in this year's Budget, which was the highest budgetary allocation for the sector so far in the State. As much as 92 per cent of the allocation has already been utilised.

Another initiative of the Government is for optimal utilisation of the coconut husk available in the State for processing, thereby reducing the dependence on other States for the purpose. To facilitate this, a scheme has been formulated to start husk-processing mills in the co-operative or non-traditional areas.

Marketing Campaign

The Minister said that the steps for writing off of the accumulated losses of coir co-operative societies were being implemented.

The total amount to be written off was Rs 32.65 crore.

Along with this, the Government loans as also the Government-guaranteed loans taken by the societies and the interest accrued on them would be converted into share capital.

The societies would be benefited to the extent of Rs 65.12 crore through this measure, he noted.

He said the marketing campaign for coir products under the brand name `Kerala Coir-The Golden Yarn of God's Own Country' would be kicked off soon.

This would help the coir products from the State get good exposure in the international market and boost their exports, he added.