Potential of natural fibres

The world market for products made from natural fibre is enormous. Each householder in the West has at least one bag for shopping. Philippines is the largest producer of decorative shopping bags in the world. These bags are produced in a variety of materials. India exports crores of rupees worth of simple jute shopping bags. Supplementation by other fibres would be a welcome change. Other products that can be produced in bulk at low costs are the natural fibre tablemat and the doormat. At the higher end of the market are home accessories such as laundry bins, other storage bins, gift boxes, book jackets, floor coverings etc.

In the following paragraphs, each link in the product chain is discussed.

Raw material

Commonly available sources of natural fibre Abaca, sisal, banana bark, banana pith, gongura, korai pith, chamba, water hyacinth reeds, raffia talipot palm, palmyra palm, coconut palm, pandanas palm, sabai grass, golden grass, sikki grass, moonch, areca sheath, cardamom leaf, paddy grass, straw, creepers, palm bark, and mulberry twigs. Though many of these are available in abundance, they are most often thrown away. For example, the long lustrous leaves of cardamom that are discarded by the truckload can be twisted into a rope that is ideal for basketry. Ninety percent of fibres in use today are byproducts of a food / cash crop. The use of waste as raw material offers a great advantage to the producer and consumer in terms of cost, as opposed to growing plants purely for their fibre (as in done in the Philippines).

Processing

The main conclusion reached in the preliminary natural fibre survey by the NID for DC (Handicrafts) that to compete with S.E. Asian countries in the arena of natural fibres, a certain level of mechanization must be introduced for raw material processing (spinning into yarn) as is done in the case of textiles (with handlooms or powerlooms). For example, Himmatsinghka Seide, Bangalores state of the art silk mill, constantly experiments with blends of natural fibres and even imports raw material.

Rajasthan currently works on moonch grass dhurries for export. They have strong handloom as well as wool handspinning skills which could diversify to natural fibre.

Value addition

India has a massive resource of skills and technical know-how, which are products of years of evolution. The craft sector serves as an enormous source of self employment to a vast number of people and cannot be ignored. Indias largest exports today are from zari and embroidered goods. This craft has virtually no capital investment and requires handwork at the village level where wages are optimum. Natural fibre is a similar example where production expansion is possible in areas close to the source of the raw material. It too does not require investments in tooling or machinery. Further, raw material is available all over India, particularly in places where traditional use of natural fibre exists.

The preliminary survey of natural fibres conducted in the year 2000 covered Tamil Nadu and Kerala. All four southern states as well as Orissa and West Bengal must be covered, followed by a survey of all the other Indian states. North Eastern skills in this area are legendary. The cane and bamboo project publication by NID serves as a basic design resource on the craft skills of the region (which are very similar to the skills and resources of S.E. Asia). This region also benefits from the infrastructure of the NEHHDC. Even government training programmes involving movement of training craftspeople between states will have an impact as people learn from each other. The fact that the same reed proliferates in the Dal lake of Kashmir, is known as Kauna grass in Manipur and Chamba grass in Kanyakumari makes it so much easier to implement the development model used in one part of the country, gradually in all parts.