The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Plantation Corporation plans new factory

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 10, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Plantation Corporation plans new factory

C. Gouridasan Nair

For rubber processing and new initiatives to market its products

Additional centrifuging capacity will help it make a foray into export market Plantation Corporation explores possibility of putting cashew apple to commercial use

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State-owned Plantation Corporation of Kerala plans to set up a new centrifuging factory for rubber processing and new initiatives to market its products directly to the clients.

Plantation Corporation managing director Babu Thomas said here on Tuesday that a new factory was necessary for better capacity utilisation, as the plantations under the corporation had begun giving increased yield after replanting. The corporation now has a centrifuging factory with 2,500 tonnes a year capacity. The new factory is estimated to cost around Rs.5 crore to Rs.6 crore and would use some of the machines the corporation already has in its possession. The additional centrifuging capacity would also help the corporation look at the export market, he said.

Mr. Thomas said the corporation held discussions with the management of Hindustan Latex Ltd. for marketing its latex to the Central public sector unit. Discussions were also on with some buyers outside the State.

A few rounds of discussions were held with Funskool, the branded toy manufacturing company, for sale of treated rubber wood for their use. The rubber wood treatment factory of the corporation has been idling for the last few years for want of technological upgrading, he said.

He said the Plantation Corporation's annual turnover would touch Rs.50 crore by the end of the current fiscal with a profit of Rs.5 crore, up from Rs.2.67 crore during 2005-06. A proposal was mooted to set up a rubber sheeting facility under the corporation to exploit the market for sheet rubber and to have large rubber nurseries at all the estates to meet the rising demand for rubber saplings. The corporation would also consider distributing cashew tree saplings for cultivation in empty public land.

The corporation has the capacity to produce 3 lakh saplings annually. The possibility of putting cashew apple to commercial use was also being explored with the help of experts from Goa.

The corporation had made a foray into the tourism sector with Plantation Valley, an eco-friendly resort at Athirappally.

The resort, with 12 air-conditioned cottages and all attendant facilities, had proved to be a big draw . Encouraged by the response from the people, the corporation was planning to convert all the inspection bungalows in its estates into resorts. Since all the estates are part of forests, the tourists would get the feel of the forests as also the farming operations in the estates, Mr. Joseph said.

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