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COMMITTEE ON COMMODITY PROBLEMS |
JOINT MEETING OF THE
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Rome, 7-9 December 1998 |
COMMON FUND PROJECTS ON HARD FIBRES |
II. IMPROVEMENT IN DRYING, SOFTENING, BLEACHING, DYEING COIR FIBRE/YARN AND PRINTING COIR FIBRE
III. PRODUCT AND MARKET DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH VALUE-ADDED COIR PRODUCTS
IV. PRODUCT AND MARKET DEVELOPMENT OF SISAL AND HENEQUEN PRODUCTS
V. ABACA: IMPROVEMENT OF FIBRE EXTRACTION AND IDENTIFICATION OF HIGHER YIELDING VARIETIES
VI. COIR-BASED BUILDING AND PACKAGING MATERIAL
1. Two projects on coir, which have been under way for some time, have now been completed; work has begun on a project on sisal; and a project on abaca is commencing. A new project to develop the use of coir for building and packaging boards has been approved by the Common Fund for Commodities. Table 1 below provides a summary listing of project details. The Intergovernmental Group on Hard Fibres has responsibility for supervision of these projects, and arrangements will therefore need to be made for supervision of the new projects on abaca and coir. The Group may wish to consider new project proposals for submission to the Fund. In doing so it may wish to take note of recent developments in the Fund's policy relating to grant and loan finance for projects including the provision of "fast track" finance for small projects.
2. The objective of the project was to contribute to demand for coir fibre, coir yarn and coir door mats, mattings and carpets by improving their competitive position with synthetics in the consuming countries through the development of improved processes for (i) the development of cost-efficient technology for drying coir fibre and yarn; (ii) softening, bleaching and fast colour dying of fibre and yarn; and (iii) fast colour printing of coir products.
3. Project activities effectively commenced in the second half of 1995. While initial progress was slower than expected, the project is now virtually concluded. Two international seminars were held, one in India in December 1997, and one in Sri Lanka in August 1998. Only final reporting remains to be completed.
4. The Common Fund employed a consultant to evaluate this project, together with the other project on coir, "Product and Market Development of High Value-Added Coir Products" (see below). He visited India and Sri Lanka in March 1997, and subsequently completed a report outlining his findings. He noted that delays had occurred in the execution of the project, but expected that the project would result in substantial progress and that several relevant achievements would be attained on completion.
5. Some promising results have now been obtained. A drying system has been developed, tested and demonstrated in Sri Lanka. Research into softening has been successful, but the cost of this treatment is a problem warranting further attention. Progress has been made with research into chemical and biological bleaching, with dying, and with printing. It is expected that more detailed information on the outcome of this project will be provided to the Group at its Session in December 1998.
6. Further work in this area might be considered, and some suggestions have been made, including further work on dying, development of spinning machinery, and on biotechnical applications in coir processing.
7. The objective of this project was to assist producing countries to diversify and expand production and trade of high value-added coir products, particularly rubberized coir, coir geo-textiles and coir dust.
8. The first stage of this project, the conduct of market surveys of a number of countries, had already been completed when the Group met in Colombo in April 1995, and workshops to disseminate results were held in Colombo and Cochin in April and May of that year. For a time after that, progress appeared to have been slow. The Supervisory Body (SB) noted in late 1996, "... that, while the initial phase of the project had been conducted successfully, there had been no apparent activity in the project for some time".
9. Since then, the final phase of the project has been completed, culminating with seminars in Sri Lanka and India in August 1998, where results of the project were provided to participants. These results indicate that considerable potential exists for increased exports of geotextiles, coir peat and rubberized coir. The project identified markets for specific coir products in importing countries, and it brought potential exporters into contact with importers. In some cases export sales have already resulted from the project, and requests from exporters for further contact with importers have continued beyond the life of the project.
10. There may now be merit in the dissemination of the results of the project to coir producing countries other than India and Sri Lanka.
11. The main objectives of this project are to (i) establish the techno-economic feasibility of using sisal fibre in various grades of paper; (ii) develop new varieties of sisal that will be suitable for various end-uses; (iii) develop processes for commercial valorization of sisal wastes; (iv) establish market outlets for the new products and evolve strategies for penetrating such markets; and (v) disseminate the technology and market information from the project widely, and promote commercial adoption of the new technologies.
12. Agreements for this project, to be executed by UNIDO, were signed in December 1996. Some time was then devoted to laying the groundwork for major activities in subsequent years. Project activities proper commenced early in 1998. A review of past research and production practices was finalized with a meeting in April. Variety trials and tests of alternative planting methods are under way. Arrangements have been made for work on flume tow to begin, and work on utilization of waste for livestock feed is under way, but some re-design of the trials may be necessary. Preparations for the establishment of a pilot plant for production of pulpable fibre are proceeding, and a market study on pulp and paper is under way.
13. Representatives of UNIDO, national agencies from Tanzania and Kenya, the Common Fund and the FAO Secretariat are to review progress on the project at a meeting of the Project Coordinating Committee early in November, and information which becomes available at this time will be reported to the Group.
14. This project was formulated to comprise three components: (i) design, production and testing of improved fibre extraction equipment; (ii) exchange of, and field trials with, high yielding disease resistant varieties in the Philippines and Ecuador; and (iii) technical support, project management and dissemination of project results.
15. The project agreements between the Common Fund, FAO and UNIDO were signed in June and July of 1997. At this time, it was understood that Ecuador would participate in the project. It subsequently became apparent, however, that arrangements could not be agreed with the participating company in Ecuador, and project details had to be amended to take account of this. Addenda to the project documents were signed in September 1998, and project activities are now commencing in the Philippines.
16. The objective of this project is to demonstrate the potential of the application of a specific technology for the production of high quality fibreboards, by making use of the high content of lignin in coir fibre. The project, which is to be executed by Institute ATO-DLO in the Netherlands, was approved by the Executive Board of the Common Fund in July 1997. Agreements have not yet been signed, but it is expected that arrangements will be made for work to commence in the first part of 1999.
17. The Intergovernmental Group on Hard Fibres has, as is usual practice, assumed the role of Supervisory Body for its projects. The two projects on coir were supervised with the assistance of a three-member panel, which, however, was hampered in its work by the lack on financial resources.
18. For the project on sisal, the Intergovernmental Group decided at its 29th Session in Manila in September 1996, that the FAO Secretariat should undertake project supervisory activities on its behalf between sessions of the Group, it being understood that appropriate expertise would be employed to review progress at each stage of the project.
19. Arrangements must now be made for supervision of the two new projects (Abaca: Improvement of Fibre Extraction and Identification of Higher Yielding Varieties; and Coir-based Building and Packaging Material). The Group might wish to adopt the same flexible arrangements it made most recently for the sisal project, and request the Secretariat to coordinate supervisory activities on its behalf during the period between its sessions. Alternatively, it may be able to identify appropriate expertise to form a permanent supervisory panel for one or both of these projects, as it did with the earlier two projects on coir.
20. Further project ideas, including any proposals for further work arising from the two completed projects on coir, might be sent to the Secretariat for consideration by the Group at the session. Any project ideas that receive the approval of the Group would need to be developed into proposals, and the Group might discuss ways of having project ideas developed into proposals for submission either to the Common Fund or to other potential donors.
21. In considering any new proposals for submission to the Common Fund, it should be noted that the Fund's ability to continue to make grant finance available is limited, and that the CFC is keen to increase the proportion of project activities funded by loans. The Fund has a policy of directing grant finance only to Least-Developed Countries, although as many fibre-producing countries fall into this category, this policy will be of less consequence for hard fibres than for many other commodities. The CFC continues to stress the importance of cofinancing from other sources and, as a general rule, will not provide more that 50 percent of the budget for grant-financed projects.
22. A new development from the CFC is the introduction of "fast-track" projects. Small projects, of up to US$30 000, can now be approved by the Managing Director of the Fund, without being submitted to the Fund's Consultative Committee or Executive Board.
| Value US$ | |||||||
| Fibre | Title | Grant From CFC | Loan from CFC | Total
Budget |
Location of project activities | Start Date | Completion Date |
| Coir | Improvement in Drying, Softening, Bleaching, Dyeing Coir Fibre/Yarn and Printing Coir Fibre | 416 000 |
996 000 |
India, Sri Lanka | Mid 1995 | October 1998 | |
| Coir | Product and Market Development of High Value-Added Coir Products | 282 048 |
474 780 |
India, Sri Lanka | Late 1994 | June 1998 | |
| Sisal | Product and Market Development of Sisal and Henequen Products | 2 570 000 |
1 250 000 |
5 374 966 |
Tanzania, Kenya | mid-1997 | mid-2002 |
| Abaca | Improvement of Fibre Extraction and Identification of Higher Yielding Varieties | 841 240 |
1 456 134 |
Philippines | November 1998 | End 2002 | |
| Coir | Coir-based Building and Packaging Material | 1 398 000 |
1 698 000 |
Philippines, Netherlands | End 1998 | End 2001 | |