Ever thought what would happen if the earth under ones feet suddenly slips away? Scary? Well this has been happening in our mountain slopes though not so dramatically. Every year during the monsoon immeasurable quantity of life supporting topsoil is washed away onto the ocean.

Soil erosion is one of the most serious problems faced by mankind today. In India, about 27 per cent of the land is subjected to serve erosion. It is estimated that 6000 million MT of precious topsoil is lost annually whereas it takes around 1000 years to build one inch of topsoil. Deforestation, unsustainable methods of land use, mining, road laying and construction accelerate the rate of soil erosion.

This is where the importance of geo-textiles comes in. Any material used for improving the soil behaviour, thereby preventing soil erosion is termed as geo-textiles. Synthetics, cotton, jute and now coir are used as geo textiles. In fact, the concept of geo-textile is not very new. Accordingly to historical findings wood, bamboo, straw, reed, wood, and animal hide were used as geo-textiles in ancient times too. In industrial age synthetic material like polyester, polyamide, polypropylene and polyethylene took their place as geo-textiles for engineering applications due to their long life. These geo-textiles, however, had their own disadvantages. Their production caused air and water pollution while their non-biodegradability was responsible for increasing soil pollution.

In an age of growing environment awareness, the use of eco- friendly biodegradable material as geo-textile started gaining momentum.  Natural geo-textiles like cotton and jute were used but their performance was not upto the mark. Coir fibre with very high lignin content comparable to that present in soft wood became the ideal choice as a geo-textile material. The lignin content in a fibre determines the resistance to microbial attack. Coir geo-textile with a lignin content of about 46 per cent scores heavily above jute (12 per cent) and leaf fibre (10 per cent).

Experimental studies have proved that while cotton and jute degrade within six months coir retains its 20 per cent strength even after one year. It provides good support on slopes for about five years and is resistant to saline water. Its greatest advantage is its ecological niche for a rapid re-establishment of the vegetation cover by absorbing water and preventing the topsoil from drying. Once the natural vegetation takes over the fibre decomposes gradually and eventually disintegrates, leaving nothing but humus. Similarly, like natural soil coir has the capacity to absorb solar radiation. That is why there is no hazard of excessive heating that occurs sometimes while using synthetics.

Coir geo-textiles come in various forms like woven netting and meshes, woven coir blankets, coirlogs, coir pillows and coir rolls. Their applications are various. They are used for stabilization of soil slopes and road, reinforcement of soil-wall, rail-roads, track-bed stabilization, embarkment on soft soil, land fills, control of erosion on slopes, land reclamation and river bank protection. Coir geo-textiles, currently, enjoy a high demand from environment conscious nations across the world. But in India its demand is very poor. About 90 per cent of the production in the country is exported. The USA is the main buyer of Indian Coir geo-textiles.

The coir Board has been conducting field level demonstration cum application studies on the coir geo-textiles in different locations. Protection of hill slopes in Nirjulin, Arunachal Pradesh, railway cuttings in the kudal sector of the Konkan Railway, hill slopes of Gangtok, Sikkim, canal banks in Muvattupuzha Valley Irrigation Project, road slopes in the Eight Gardenia, Trichur, Kerala, mud wall and land reclamation work in Mancompu in Kuttanadu, Kerala and river bank Protection in Chowara near Alwaye, Kerala are among the projects undertaken by the Board in India. The Board also proposes to undertake experimental studies on protection of the road embarkments and hill slopes in the north eastern sector in collaboration with the Border Roads Organization and north-eastern State governments. It has also undertaken protection of mine spoils in collaboration with the central Soil and Water Conservation Research & Training Institute, Dehradun. Besides technical support for product application, the Board also provides technical inputs for coir geo-textile production and helps in market promotion. The world requirement of coir geo-textiles has come to around 1,400 million sq. mts.

The relation between man and earth is immense. India is basically the land of farmers and hence, soil conservation becomes all the more important. The coir geo-textile with its very high tensile strength, water absorption capabilities and ability to break up run off topsoil is a natural cure for environmental maladies. In addition to this, it will help boost the good fortune of the coconut farmers and coir workers with its ever-increasing demand all over the world.