Researchers in the Coir Board have developed a technology for bio conversion of coir pith into an organic manure that has the quality to replace urea, Coir Board chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan said here today.

The Allapuzha Research Centre of the board has come out with the technology by which coir pith organic manure can be produced in compost method, he said.

“By adding more nitrogen, this organic manure has all the qualities to replace urea, thus helping the agriculture sector and farmers.”

Similarly, the Bengaluru Research Centre is concentrating on how to use coir wood in the furniture industry, particularly door and panels, which can be an alternative to teak wood, Radhakrishnan said.

Outlining the details on the four-day India International Coir Fair – 2016, beginning here on July 15, concurrently with Agri Intex, Radhakrishnan said that the board was in touch with the Surface Transport and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari to discuss on the possibility of using coir as geo textile material while laying roads, particularly highways connecting rural India.

“The geo textile has got approval from the Indian Road Congress,” he said.

On July 15 Union Minister Kalraj Mishra would launch a ‘Coir Kranti Express’ – a caravan, that would display the entire range of coir products, and pass through almost the States in 120 days and would touch Jammu and north eastern states and terminate at Kochi, he said.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu would inaugurate a reverse buyers sellers meet on July 17, where buyers from 55 nations would participate, Radhakrishnan added.

According to Radhakrishnan, the coir products export touched Rs. 1901 crores in 2015-16 – a 20 per cent growth in volume and 17 per cent in value terms. The boards, in the next three years, planned to double the exports.

Stating that the board has sanctioned 20 coir clusters across India, including 12 in Tamil Nadu, Radhakrishnan said that three regional centres are being set up in Guwahati, Bhubaneshwar and Kolkata, even as Pollachi is already functioning as a regional centre.