The State’s first fishing twine factory (yarn twisting unit) set up under the aegis of the Kerala State Co-operative Federation for Fisheries Development (Matsyafed) at Paravur in Alappuzha will be opened on Thursday.
Fisheries Minister Saji Cherian will inaugurate the unit at 4 p.m.
The unit will supply twine to Matsyafed’s three fishing net factories at Kochi, Kannur, and Thiruvananthapuram. Twine is produced by twisting nylon yarn made from caprolactam chips.
In the initial phase, Matsyafed plans to produce around 500 tonnes of twine annually using yarn procured from outside. Matsyafed officials said that making twine in their facility would help them produce better quality fishing gear and provide them to fishers at reasonable rates.
Matsyafed set up the facility on 1.5 acres of own land at ₹5.5 crore, including ₹5 crore sanctioned by the State government. The unit will employ some 50 people.
H. Salam, MLA, will preside. A.M. Ariff, MP, P.P. Chitharanjan, MLA, Alappuzha district panchayat president K.G. Rajeshwari and others will attend the function.
