Kerala's traditional and labour intensive coir industry is in the throes of experimenting with a new mini spinning machine capable of enhancing production of quality yarn coming up. The innovation will help the tufting industry and ensure better wages to workers.

Fabricated by a Bangalore-based company, it had undergone trials at the Coir Board's Central Institute of Coir Technology (CICT), Bangalore, before its formal launch by the Kerala Minister for Coir and Health, Mr Adoor Prakash, recently.

Trials

The Coir Board Chairman, Mr V.S.Vijayaraghavan, said that the machine would be subjected to detailed evaluation by the Central Coir Research Institute (CCRI), Kalavoor, Alapuzha, and the state-owned National Coir Management and Research Institute (NCMRI), Thiruvananthapuram, before its large scale commercialisation. If well accepted by the industry, the machine is expected to revolutionise the industry coming under the MSME sector, he said.

The yarn quality has already been vouched for by two major tufting mat manufacturers: the Alleppey Company and Cocotuft of the Travancore Mats and Matting company (TMCC). Costing roughly Rs 50,000 a unit, the one-person operable machine is capable of producing 23 kg of quality yarn a day, which can fetch an average wage of at least Rs 300 per head.

The Board also plans to recommend to the Centre the inclusion of the machine for allocation under the Mahila Coir Yojana at 75 per cent subsidy during the 12{+t}{+h} plan period. If included, the machine would be distributed through the Board's 19 odd functional SFRUTI coir clusters spread over 11 coir producing States, including Assam and Tripura, Mr Vijayaraghavan said.

The Minister, during the launch of the machine, had also said the State Government would consider supplying the machine to coir workers under the BPL category free of cost as part of the government's efforts to alleviate the problems being faced by the industry due to low wages and resultant desertion of labour.

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