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The Philippines is basically an agricultural country. For so many years, agriculture-based economy has been its economic backbone. In the Bicol Region, more than 97% of its people are dependent on farming particularly on coconut production. But Despite these agricultural activities, Bicol remains to be poor. While it is true that natural calamities such as typhoons remain to be one of the reasons why Bicol is poor, there are still other reasons why it is so. Poor farming methods are also contributing to this economic state of the farmers.

The coconut industry is one of the prime industries of Bicol. Yet, there are still so many wastage as to the use of its by-products. The coconut husk has always been thrown to waste by farmers after copra production. Such poor farming approach contributes to an environmental problems. The husks are thrown to rivers or just simply piled up in a corner to rot.

The only natural fiber resistant to salt water, coir is used to make nets for shellfish harvesting and ropes for marine applications. Highly resistant to abrasion, coir fibers are used to make durable floor mats and brushes. Strong and nearly impervious to the weather, coir twine is the material hops growers in the United States prefer for tying their vines to supports. Coir is becoming a popular choice for making geotextiles because of its durability, eventual biodegradability, ability to hold water, and hairy texture (which helps it cling to seeds and soil).

The Manufacturing Process

1. Harvesting and Husking

Coconuts that have ripened and fallen from the tree may simply be picked up off the ground. Coconuts still clinging to the 40-100 ft (12-30 m) tall trees are harvested by human climbers. If the climber picks the fruit by hand, he can harvest fruits from about 25 trees in a day. If the climber uses a bamboo pole with a knife attached to the end to reach through the treetop vegetation and cut selected coconuts loose, he can harvest 250 trees per day.

Ripe coconuts are husked immediately, but unripe coconuts may be seasoned for a month by spreading them in a single layer on the ground and keeping them dry. To remove the fruit from the seed, the coconut is impaled on a steel-tipped spike to split the husk. The pulp layer is easily peeled off. A skilled husker can manually split and peel about 2,000 coconuts per day. Modern husking machines can process 2,000 coconuts per hour.

Manual Husking

Mechanical Husking

2. Retting

Retting is a curing process during which the husks are kept in an environment that encourages the action of naturally occurring microbes. This action partially decomposes the husk’s pulp, allowing it to be separated into coir fibers and a residue called coir pith. Freshwater retting is used for fully ripe coconut husks, and saltwater retting is used for green husks.

For freshwater retting, ripe husks are buried in pits dug along river banks, immersed in water-filled concrete tanks, or suspended by nets in a river and weighted to keep them submerged. The husks typically soak at least six months.

For saltwater retting, green husks are soaked in sea water or artificially salinated fresh water. Often this is accomplished by placing them in pits along river banks near the ocean, where tidal action alternately covers them with sea water and rinses them with river water. Saltwater retting usually takes eight to 10 months, although adding the proper bacteria to the water can shorten the retting period to a few days.

Mechanical techniques have recently been developed to hasten or eliminate retting. Ripe husks can be processed in crushing machines after being retted for only seven to 10 days. Immature husks can be dry milled without any retting. After passing through the crushing machine, these green husks need only be dampened with water or soaked one to two days before proceeding to the defibering step. Dry milling produces only mattress fiber.

3. Defibering

Traditionally, workers beat the retted pulp with wooden mallets to separate the fibers from the pith and the outer skin. In recent years, motorized machines have been developed with flat beater arms operating inside steel drums. Separation of the bristle fibers is accomplished by hand or in a machine consisting of a rotating drum fitted with steel spikes.

Separation of the mattress fibers from the pith is completed by washing the residue from the defibering process and combing through it by hand or tumbling it in a perforated drum or sieve. (Saltwater retting produces only mattress fibers.)

The clean fibers are spread loosely on the ground to dry in the sun.

Dehusk Coir Making

4. Finishing

Bristle fibers that will not immediately be further processed are rolled and tied into loose bundles for storage or shipment. More mechanised producers may use a hydraulic press to create compact bales.

Similarly, mattress fibers may simply be baled with a hydraulic press. However, if more processing is desired, the fibers are combed with mechanical or manual carding tools, then loosely twisted into a thick yarn (wick), and wound into bundles. Later, the wick can be re-spun into a finer yarn. Techniques vary from simple hand spinning to use of a hand-operated spinning wheel or a fully automated spinning machine.

Depending on its intended final use, the yarn may be shipped to customers, or multiple strands may be twisted into twine and bundled for shipment. Both traditional manual techniques and newer mechanical methods are used to braid twine into rope and to weave yarn into mats or nets.

For some uses, such as upholstery padding, bristle fiber is loosely spun into yarn and allowed to rest. Then the fibers, which have become curly, are separated. These fibers are lightly felted into mats that are sprayed with latex rubber, dried, and vulcanized (heat treated with sulphur).

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