The Hindu : Business : Coir Board signs MoU with RubberMark

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 13, 2006

Business

Business

Coir Board signs MoU with RubberMark

Staff Reporter

KOCHI: Coir Board has entered into an agreement with the Kerala Cooperative Marketing Federation (RubberMark) for manufacture and supply of C-pom (coir pith organic manure).

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) to this effect has been signed between the board and the federation. RubberMark will market the product through primary societies under their brand name.

Chairman of the Coir Board A.C. Jose said the board would ensure that the Director of Agriculture, Government of Kerala, formally approved the manure manufactured for use in plantations.

The board would take steps to popularise C-pom the world over.

The export of coir pith would touch an all time high during the current year, he said.

President of RubberMark T.H. Musthaffa said the project to manufacture manure using coir pith and waste would be launched soon.

The use of a mixture of rubber and coir pith for manufacturing doormats was under consideration, he added.

Coir pith is a by-product of the coir industry. Extraction of 1 kg of coir fibre generates 2 kg of coir pith. In India, an estimated 7 lakh tonnes of coir pith is produced a year.

It can be converted into organic manure.

In Kerala, 1,80,000 tonnes of coir fibre is produced every year. This will generate 3,60,000 tonnes of coir pith annually. The Central Coir Research Institute of the Coir Board, in collaboration with the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, has developed a technology for composting of coir pith using a fungal spawn.

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