Defence Minister A.K. Antony has said that the State should produce enough coconut fibre to meet demand by procuring the raw husk from coconut farmers.
Inaugurating the Palakkad Coir Cluster here on Sunday, Mr. Antony said the State was dependent on its neighbour to meet its requirement of fibre. Owing to good demand, it was not possible to stop Tamil Nadu from selling fibre. The only way was to procure the raw husk from farmers and make fibre from it to meet demand.
“This is the only way for Kerala to retain its rightful place in the industry. The State government and the Coir Board should take steps for it,” he said.
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He said the Union government should do more help to the coir industry, the oldest traditional industry in the State and which employs lakhs of workers, especially women.
Mr. Antony said he would try to get maximum Central assistance to save the industry that was facing a crisis.
G. Sudhakaran, Minister for Coir, presided. T.K.A. Nair, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, delivered the keynote address.
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V.S. Vijayaraghavan, chairman, Coir Board; K.K. Divakaran, K. Achuthan, C.P. Mohammed, MLAs; Dinesh Rai, Secretary, Union Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises; District Collector K.V. Mohan Kumar; among others, spoke.