Giving a fillip to its expansion plans, Coirfed is setting up more retail outlets and appointing new agents outside Kerala to market its products.

The State Coir and Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash said that Coirfed has finalised plans to recruit agents for merchandising its products outside Kerala. At present, the federation has 52 showrooms and more than 100 retail outlets throughout India and 152 agents in Kerala.

To penetrate the market outside the State, the Minister said that the federation will appoint agents in various States. They will be recruited in Delhi, Gujarat, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and all the coir belt States such as Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, he said. Rani George, Secretary, Coir, said there was an imperative need to harness the potential of largely untapped domestic market. There is a need to set up more retail outlets, increase the number of agents and hold road shows outside the state to popularise the Kerala coir and its products.

Huge potential

B Sreekumar, Managing Director of Coirfed, said that there is a huge scope for Coirfed to diversify its activities, given its existing infrastructure facilities, well-established marketing network and trained manpower.

The agency has displayed a range of new products at Coir Kerala 2014 to suit the requirements of people of all age groups — from newborn babies to grandparents. The newt range products included an assortment of mats and mattresses that could be used for bathing small kids and inducing sleep among the insomniacs and the old people. Earlier inaugurating the 4{+t}{+h} edition Coir Kerala 2014 at Alappuzha, the Union Defence Minister AK Antony called upon both Centre and State Governments to work together for uplifting Kerala’s coir sector, which was the main income generator for lakhs of workers.

The coir sector is in a crisis as the number of people taking up employment in coir sector has fallen in the last couple of years. The Government should focus on coir sector and help the sector to regain its lost charm, he said.

The Government should ensure steady availability of raw materials for the smooth functioning of the coir industry. It should also look for diversifying the coir products through various modernisation schemes cater to the changing tastes of the people, he said.

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