Sri Lanka: Future-proofing coir supplies for growers
Sri Lanka is the world’s largest exporter of coir fibre based products. Demands for coco peat (coir pith) have been rising since the 1900’s and is increasingly being used on UK farms and worldwide as a natural and eco-friendly growing medium.
Monsoon season is normally from September to November but during 2014/16, unprecedented rainfall affected the whole coir industry. Coir pith is normally dried by sunlight, however, continuous rain meant that it could not dry - causing knock on effects for UK growers who use coir substrate to plant crops.
As a result, UK growing media producer at the forefront of coir research and development - Botanicoir - is investing €1.2 million into the first completely automated coir drying facility to ensure that this situation will be avoided in future.
It’s been a tough year for Botanicoir, yet despite the circumstances, most of the company’s orders have been successfully fulfilled, to enable growers to plant on time.
Ordinarily, the growbags are delivered in dehydrated compressed slabs. But the only way Botanicoir could fulfil orders was to ship them partially hydrated - and as orders were up by 30%, this was no mean feat.
“For the 2015/16 season, as we were unable to dry the coir, the volume we needed to ship was bigger. Instead of one container of grow bags, we had to send three and a half containers of partially hydrated bags from Sri Lanka meaning a cost increase of 350%,” says Kalum Balasuriya, Botanicoir managing director.
“We didn’t pass this cost onto customers. But, we’re aware that it’s unsustainable to risk such a situation happening again, this is why we’re investing in a new drying facility."
This August, the new 30 metre long drying facility will be installed, powered by a biomass boiler fuelled with renewable wood chips. The future implications are vast, because 80% of the daily required volume will be dried and ready for production as soon as it comes off the conveyer.
“The other 20% will come from existing natural drying yards. This means that in a good year, we’ll have the ability to produce 80% more product than before we had the dryer - and with the rise in demand we’re seeing, we need this development,” says Kalum.
After 12 months of dedicated research and development, the facility will dry the coir as it runs along a conveyer. The heat from the biomass boiler will be controlled by a number of sensors and six different types of heat will be applied at various stages depending on the moisture levels. The machine will only require one person to control it as it’s fully automated.
According to Kalum, the investment is crucial to the growth of the business. “With a 30% rise in orders this year, demand is growing at a phenomenal rate. The drying facility will ensure the consistency of the product meets the specification and is delivered on time, every time.”
Source: Fruit Focus
