Around 75 families in the Wadduwa area have been selected to process coir and all the required machinery for the industry will be provided to them. Since the advent of the plastic industry, the coir industry has seen a sharp decline and the time has come to rejuvenate the industry by giving incentives to people engaged in it, Construction and Engineering Services Minister Rajitha Senaratne said at a coir industry workshop held at Wadduwa Potupitiya recently.

Minister Senaratne said that the plastic industry invaded the market relegating the coir industry to limbo and people engaged in coir industry had to pay 50 per cent of their earnings for the machinery used. People had to depend on the other 50 per cent of their earnings.

He pointed out that the Government had been encouraging people to recommence the coir industry in which many coir products could be manufactured. Provision of necessary machinery for the coir industry people was essential in many respects and people would be able to retain their full earnings without paying 50 per cent for machinery.

Minister Senaratne added that the coir industry was a self-employment project and the Government was in dire need of competent coir products craftmen for the country. Around 25 families in Wadduwa area were given coir crushing machines and these families could pay the money in installments and they were trained by the Coconut Development Board.

He said that in countries like Korea, people work 16 hours per day and that was the reason the country had achieved progress. The Rajitha SEnaratne Foundation for the past few years had provided employment opportunities to 14,000 young men and women in the yogurt industry and mushroom industry. Around 6000 young men and women had been trained in the textile industry with the provision of machinery and management.