Report of the Working Group on Coir Seventh Five Year Plan 1985-90

Abstract

The Report of the Working Group on Coir for the Seventh Five Year Plan (1985–90), constituted by the Planning Commission, provides a comprehensive review of the performance of the coir industry during the Sixth Plan and outlines a strategic policy framework for its development in the Seventh Plan period with a ten-year perspective up to 1995. Recognizing the coir industry as a century-old, labour-intensive rural sector employing nearly half a million workers—predominantly women from weaker sections—the report evaluates production, employment generation, exports, organisational structures, marketing systems, training facilities, research and development capacity, mechanisation policy, and institutional finance requirements. It emphasizes enhancing artisan incomes through productivity improvements, better tools and common facilities, uninterrupted supply of coconut husk, strengthened cooperative structures, and expanded entrepreneurial participation. The Working Group proposes targeted R&D to reduce retting time, improve fibre quality, diversify product uses, and modernize processes, alongside improved planning, monitoring, and marketing strategies including export promotion and market intelligence systems. With India as the world’s premier coir producer—accounting for significant white fibre output and substantial export earnings—the report underscores the need to address raw material constraints caused by drought while leveraging long-term growth potential, particularly in Kerala and other coconut-growing states such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. Overall, the report presents an integrated development strategy linking physical targets for production, employment, and exports with financial outlays, institutional credit flows, and structural reforms to strengthen the coir industry’s contribution to rural employment, foreign exchange earnings, and balanced regional development.