The two new coir clusters recently set up at Uthiyur and Puliyampatti through government and beneficiary contributions is all set to provide employment to 320 artisans and increase the turnover from the said regions by ₹10 crore this financial year.
The targeted developments in terms of revenue and employment are planned to be achieved by undertaking cluster development activities to the tune of ₹8.55 crore, which would be a combination of grants from Union government and beneficiary contributions.
Of the outlay, the government grant portion was ₹5.78 crore.
“We are aiming to increase the turnover from the Uthiyur region from the present ₹27.6 crore to ₹31.74 crore before the end of the current fiscal year through an annual production of 8,760 tonnes of matting and biodegradable coir geo textiles like soil erosion control woven blankets”, Anitha Jacob, deputy director of Coir Board, which is the nodal agency of cluster activities, told The Hindu.
Similarly, the cluster activities at Puliyampatti region would be catapulting the turnover from the present ₹34.06 crore to a projected ₹39.16 crore in the current financial year through a combination of exports as well as domestic sale of products like coir pith and coir growbag.
Common facility centres
As part of the cluster activities, common facility centres were set up at both the clusters where the artisans could collectively use provisions such as fibre extraction equipment, growbag manufacturing gadgets and pith block making facility, among others.
The numbers of units involved in the manufacturing of various coir products too were expected to go up by another 10 to 20 units in each of the clusters because of the enhanced support.
Special purpose vehicles
To streamline activities, Special Purpose Vehicles have been constituted in two clusters with the representation of beneficiaries and officials from the Coir Board and ITCOT Consultancy Services.
