Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 16 (IANS): India should scale up value-addition of abundantly available regional resources like rubber and coir to tap the increasing domestic and international market for such products, said experts on Thursday.

At the session on 'Regional Materials - rubber and coir technologies' at a thematic session at the CSIR- National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST) here, Coir Board Chairman D. Kuppuramu said as the second largest producer of coconut, India exports raw materials like coconut husk used in making coir products, but the country lags behind in promoting value-added products from coir.

On the potential of the coir sector, he noted that by playing a vital role in reducing heat, natural fibers like coir act as a primary solution to global warming.

"Coir, as the best biodegradable alternative to plastic, helps the nation's efforts to control plastic use. So, research institutes like CSIR-NIIST should work towards developing technologies that would strengthen the sector," he added.

Rubber Board Chairman, Dr Sawar Dhanania urged bolstering value addition to rubber by encouraging more MSMEs and startups.

"Apart from ensuring a fair price for growers, cultivation, production, market, and supply chain in the rubber sector should be leveraged to provide further impetus to product development. Also, the R&D activities should focus on developing technologies for making rubberised coir products," he said.

CSIR-NIIST Director Dr C. Anandharamakrishnan said by developing eco-friendly technologies, CSIR-NIIST envisages promoting value-addition of regional resources like rubber and coir.

Santanu Chattopadhyay, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, noted that since rubber is a crop which could be grown in all regions irrespective of climate, its promotion could benefit farmers across the country besides providing plenty of opportunities to startups.