Water crisis sucks life out of coir sector

A dry spell over the last two months has forced manufacturers to buy water from tankers to process coir fibre. 

“A huge amount is spent to procure water for processing fibre. About 20,000 litres of water is required on a daily basis to wet the dry fibre, but due to thee failed monsoon, we are forced to rely on private water tankers. It’s quite expensive and the industry is in trouble,” said Latha Durai, who runs a coir-making unit in Pollachi. 

Pollachi near Coimbatore tops in coconut production in Tamil Nadu with farms spread over an area of 1.25 lakh acres. However, the persistent dry spell has led to a significant drop in coconut trees and affected coconut production resulting in short supply of husk, a major raw material for the coir industry. 

About 750 tonnes of coconut fibre and blocks are manufactured annually from around 400 coir extraction units in Pollachi and its surrounding areas. These units do business for over Rs 2,000 crore annually through exports as over 90 per cent of the coir fibre is exported to countries like China, Russia and European countries. 

“Thousands of labourers, mainly women who are dependent on the coir industry face the threat loss of their jobs due lack of work. Already, most of the units have been mechanised shedding the demand for workers. Water scarcity coupled with shortage in fibre due to drop in coconut shell production has further affected the ailing coir industry,” said S Arumugam, another coir manufacturer. The dip in production of coconut shells has also triggered a steep price rise as 1,000 coconut husks, which were sold for Rs 1,800 sometime back, have risen to Rs 2,400 now. 

A number of products ranging from beds, mattresses and decorative items, which are much in demand in foreign countries, are made of processed fibre.