The new-found receptivity to technology has been matched by rapid strides in R&D also, he said. The Coir Board, last week, signed an MoU with the National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) to licence and patent new technologies developed in its laboratories. These new technologies have high economic and environmental significance, NRDC managing director NK Sharma said.

Even in Kerala, traditionally reputed for high wages, minimum wage regulations are not implemented in many phases of coir production. This has caused a severe labour shortage which hit the uninterrupted flow of coir into the market. Beating and spinning are two phases of coir processing thattraditionally employ women labour. The abysmally low wages offered for these jobs have caused an exodus of labour from the coir industry, Christy Fernandez said.

The coir industry, which had brought foreign exchange equivalent to Rs 221.8 crore into the country in 1997-98, has become more receptive to mechanisation. Four Regional Coir Development Centres -in Tanjavore (Tamil Nadu), Arsikere (Karnataka), Rajamundhry (Andhra Pradesh) and Bhubaneswar (Orissa)- a Demonstration-cum-Extension Centre - in Nalbari (Assam) - and a Demonstration-cum-Production Centre - in Narsapuram (Andhra Pradesh)- are constantly engaged in providing training in various aspects of production.