Central Coir Research Institute

Coir pith hillocks are common in the neighbourhood of fibre extraction units. A novel technology of composting these hillocks has been developed by Coir Board. There is an accumulation of about 1 million MT of coir pith in our country mainly in the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The composting process can be carried out on the hillock itself by digging a pit of 3 ft.dia. and one meter depth. The pit is refilled with the excavated coir pith mixed with PITHPLUS, urea and calcium carbonate in the proportions based on the dug out material. Before refilling the pit, the aeration pipes are laid on the bottom of the pit in a manner that can house 19 perforated PVC pipes systematically. All the PVC pipes are connected from the bottom with 2" non-perforated PVC pipes which are protruded outside the heap in order to enable flow of air into the heap. This method has brought down the composting period from 30 days to 21 days only. The process saves the labour shifting the position to another place as well as the space that was required to lay the composting heap in the conventional process