THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:Coir has always been synonymous with labour and efforts of the rural population in Kerala. And today, with mechanisation of the coir industry, the workers especially women who are involved in the natural beating procedure of husk, say they are allotted very less wages and are forced to work for more than 8 hours a day. “ We haven’t received any hike in our wages for a long time. The work hours are also very tedious and we don’t have any assurance of our jobs,” said Leela Sambhasivan, a coir worker.
Coir manufacturing in the capital is very common near Kovalam region. The process is very intense in which coconut husks are first split into pieces and soaked in water for around 9 to 12 months. The soaking period lasts until the fibre becomes loose and soft. This is done either by digging pits near the backwaters where there is water flow. They also erect coconut leaves and fill the husk with mud to prevent floating.
Later the processed husk is removed and washed. Once it is cleaned, the outer skin will be peeled off using bare hands by placing the husk on wooden mallets for separating the fibres from the pith.
Once they are separated from the pith, these are cleaned and spread on the shade for drying. Once dried, the fibres will be send to the mills.“I have been doing this job since I was 10 years old. We get around Rs 70 a day after working from morning 7.30 to evening 5.30,” said Sainabha Beevi, another coir maker.
Man vs machine
Implementation of modern spinning wheels and machines are a real threat to people engaged in the process of making coir manually. They get paid according to the quantity of work they have done and not by the quality of the work. Lack of raw materials, replacement of fibres using coconut husk with plastic fibres and the excess use of advanced machine are driving people from the industry.
A coir industry technology upgradation scheme which has been introduced by Coir Vikas Yojana (CVY) in March 2018 which focuses on providing modern infrastructure facilities to the production units resulting in the improvement of productivity and quality. The scheme also promotes enhanced utilization of available raw materials and facilitates. “We don’t need new schemes because it does not help us financially. We get a pension of Rs 1,100 a month, which is also low,” said Mani S.Mill owners like Mohan Kumar of Vazhmuttom, however, say that they can’t afford to pay the workers more money as the business is already running on a loss.