Sustainability in traditional coir processing in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Sri Lanka is one of the world's leading exporters of high-quality bristle fiber. The Drum Paired method is the most common traditional method for extracting bristle fiber in Sri Lanka. This strategy was utilized to bring in more foreign currency to the country, as well as increase profits for coir manufacturers in order to keep the fiber sector afloat in Sri Lanka. However, a new technology known as 'D1' is rapidly replacing the traditional method and this method is incapable of producing high-quality bristle fiber as an output. Hence, this study aims to find the causative factors for why entrepreneurs move to ‘D1’ method. Interviews were done with manufacturers in this field that had been in business for a long time and had experience with both coir extracting technologies to find moderate characteristics that were not identified by earlier researchers: resource needs, labour, maintenance, market, and safety. Thematic analysis was used to examine transcripts of the interviews, and four distinct themes emerged: government, productivity, business development, and business continuity. A structured questionnaire was issued to 150 coir manufacturers in Sri Lanka, with 9 factors considered, and binary logistic regression was used to determine which factors have an impact on moving to a new coir processing method. According to the results generated resource needs, labour, maintenance, market, business development, and business continuity have a significant impact on moving to new method. These findings will be valuable to both coir manufacturers and relevant authorities in determining a solution to this problem and motivating manufacturers to return to the traditional approach in order to increase profits and foreign revenue for the country.