Kudumbashree, the State Poverty Eradication Mission and National Institute for Inter-disciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST), an affiliate of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) signed a MoU on 31st October 2012 for setting up bio-extraction plants for production of pineapple leaf fibre and banana fibre. This is a project routed to Kerala state by Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India. The MoU was signed between Shri. P. K. Thomas, Executive Director(i\/c), Kudumbashree and Mr M.M. Sreekumar, Head, Business Development, NIIST in the presence Dr M.K. Muneer, Minister for Panchayaths and Social Welfare Thiruvananthapuram. Ms Aruna Sundararajan IAS, Executive Vice Chairman, Kudumbashree, Anwar Sadath MLA, Dr. Suresh Das, Director, NIIST and Dr. Ehrlich Desa, Co-ordinator, CSIR-800 were also present.<\/p>\n
Launched by the Government of Kerala in 1998 for wiping out absolute poverty from the State through concerted community action under the leadership of Local Self Governments, Kudumbashree is today one of the largest women-empowering projects in the country. The programme has 37 lakh members and covers more than 50% of the households in Kerala. Built around three critical components, micro credit, entrepreneurship and empowerment, the Kudumbashree initiative has today succeeded in addressing the basic needs of the less privileged women, thus providing them a more dignified life and a better future.<\/p>\n
The project is expected to benefit over 10,000 Kudumbashree women farmers \/farmer groups and farm based entrepreneurs covered under its Samagra Programme to set up new micro-enterprises \/ develop value added products using cost-effective technologies.<\/p>\n
Fibres of banana and pineapple leaf are in good demand and are used in making textiles furnishings, handicrafts and handmade paper. Textile grade fibre fetches the highest market value. Currently, the high quality fibres are extracted through tedious manual processes. Machines have been developed for fibre extraction, but the quality of the fibre is poor.<\/p>\n