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The Coir Board will extent all possible help for the speedy mechanisation of the coir industry in the neighbouring Tamil Nadu which has helped generate more employment among the rural women, and contribute to the faster growth of the export trade.
The industry, coming under the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector, and spread over 22 districts of Tamil Nadu, provides employment to over 200,000 people, majority of whom are women. The export earnings was worth Rs 200 crore last year, Mr V.S.Vijayaraghavan, Chairman, Coir Board, has said.
Expo
Inaugurating the three-day Agri Expo-2011, organised jointly by the Pollachi Chamber of Commerce and the Coir Board at Pollachi, he exhorted the industry to concentrate more on value addition in exports, rather than confining to export of raw materials like coir fibre and yarn. In this context, strengthening a closer relationship between the coir industries of Tamil Nadu and Kerala would vastly benefit both the domestic and export market, while overcoming the raw material and labour requirements of the industry in general, he said.
About 70 stalls, showcasing the growth of the industry in the recent past, contributed by the latest technological developments, and helped by the centrally aided schemes available for the benefit of the industry, are the main attraction of the expo .
A seminar on coir and coir industry and a buyer-seller meet involving the coir yarn and fibre exporters of Tamil Nadu and Kerala's export-oriented coir sector, would also be held as part of the three-day expo.
CFC opens
The Chairman also launched the Common Facility Centre (CFC) under the Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI) at Gudiyatham in Vellore for the five coir clusters located at Gudiyatham, Pattukottai, Salem, Cuddallore and Periyakulam.
While the CFC enjoyed 75 per cent grant through Coir Board, including Rs 15 lakh each for capacity building and market development, the five coir clusters also received Government grants extending to Rs 75 lakh, each, with 20 per cent share participation contributed by Tamil Nadu Government, leaving the beneficiaries to raise only 5 per cent investment share.
At Puthucherry, the Chairman presided over a State-level seminar on coir industry in which Puducherry Chief Minister Mr V. Vaithilingam was the Chief Guest. It discussed technologies for the development of the industry, marketing strategies, schemes and services of the Coir Board .
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