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G.K. Nair

Kochi , Oct. 9

A RECENT study conducted to evaluate the performance of Coir Vyavasaya Cooperatives (CVCs) - set up with the objective of solving the problems of the industry and to bring all coir workers into the cooperative fold to ensure them regular work and reasonable wages - in the State reveals that majority of the cooperatives are incurring losses while the long-term solvency position is "pathetic".

The operating efficiency was found to be extremely poor in the case of all coir societies. They all display negative net profit ratio and the net loss ratio even touched 27 per cent of the sales.

Contrary to its objectives, the cooperative scheme could bring only 76 per cent of the coir workers to its fold, according to the study conducted by Dr V.S. Jose and Dr K.C. Sankaranarayanan.

Besides, an analysis of the socio-economic background, they said, revealed that majority of the coir workers did not belong to the productive age group of 16-45. In fact, 69 per cent of the workers were above 46 years of age and 37 per cent of them were more than 60 years of age. The unhygienic and repulsive nature of work drive away younger generation from this traditional source of employment. On the other hand, nearly two per cent of workers were below 15 years of age. Literacy rate of coir workers was also found to be lower than that of the general rate of 90.92 per cent in the State.

In a striking contrast to the claim of the State Government that in Kerala all the basic facilities for a household are available within a 2-km radius, availability of drinking water, electricity in the dwelling areas of the coir workers were below the State average while basic common facilities such as primary health centre, schools, ration shops, banks and cooperative societies are not available with in a radius of 2 km.

According to the study, a majority of the societies were not utilising the production capacity due to shortage of working capital and raw material and non-availability of labour at the right time. Undue delay in releasing the sale proceeds of yarn by Coirfed (apex body of the coir cooperatives) creates problems for the cooperative societies with regard to working capital. ``This in turn affects their ability to purchase raw husk on time which often results in interruptions in production.''

To add to their woes, the commercial banks and other financial institutions are reluctant to extend credit facilities to societies against the security of coir products. According to them lack of professionalism and undue politicisation in Coirfed resulted in the failure of this apex body in solving the problems of the CVCs. The study reveals that Coirfed could not tap more than 0.1 per cent of the export market of coir products.

The organised selling channels of coir products were confined to the institutional level ignoring the household sector of the country, which is unexploited. "The unique properties of coir are not known even in India," they said.

The study recommends that the function of Coirfed needs to be restructured. Centralisation of procurement and marketing activities results in high extra cost. Therefore, these activities are to be decentralised. Moreover, professionally qualified and experienced personnel should be appointed so as to make Coirfed competitive and capable of tapping the export market.

It has also recommended that government assistance should be channelled to CVCs directly and not through Coirfed. The recommendations also included that husk beating should be mechanised taking into consideration of shortage of labour and the repulsive nature of the work. The societies could pool their resources to purchase the machine.

Besides, necessary amendments need to be made in the bylaws of societies to enable this process, the study said. The cooperative credit institutions and commercial banks should extend timely working capital assistance for procurement of raw husk during the months of January-April, as during this period husks yield maximum fibre. Besides, efforts should be made to extend credit facilities on the security of coir products, the study said.

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