Coconut is one among the most perennial crops and India is a leading producer, exporting coconut-based products too.

But dehusking a coconut is really a cumbersome process, generally done manually using a spike. But now machines can do all that.

ARS Engineering near Malumachampatti is manufacturing such automatic coconut dehusking and tender coconut trimming machines. Though there are many other manufacturers of coconut dehusking machines, there are many complaints which has made devise its products to cater even to the global market.

Company CEO Arun Kumar says, “We are the manufacturers, suppliers and exporters of these machines and our objective is to provide faster work rate with less manpower using high grade raw material and also export them.” This machine peels off the coconut husk with hydraulically controlled devices. An operator is required to handle the machine.

Dusking is the process of removing off the fibrous portion the nut. It has been a problem from time immemorial. Though many types of equipment have been developed to dehusk coconuts, a good part of the job is done manually. Finding labour to do this job that is also quite dangerous is turning really hard.

One of the staff Nandhini says, “This machine is designed for peeling coconut husk at high speed with minimum manual labour and is capable of dehusking 1500-1800 coconuts per hour which if done manually takes a whole day.” It not only dehusks the coconut but also removes the crown of the dehusked coconut if required. This machine is useful in farms, processing units, hotels and oil mills.

The company is exporting its products to Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia because of its distinctive features such as corrosion resistance, less manpower, easy and low maintenance and safety. It can also be integrated with further processing steps of the nuts.

The company is also into manufacture of other machines like the semi-automatic green coconut trimming machine which is also exported. It trims tender coconut into a diamond shape and flattens the bottom and a round cutting is made on the top which makes opening easy.

The trimmed tender coconuts are washed with lemon water and then with normal one so that they retain their colour and does not turn black, an important condition for export. These machines are power and manpower-saving ones.

Besides these, the company is also into production of filter press, fluorescent and silky rubber bands and their cutting, dipping, ball mill, cleaning and drying machines.

It says the manufacturing process is eco-friendly though such efforts do not get much acknowledgement.