Bhopal, Feb 22: In order to strengthen the activities of creating sustainable sisal based economy and to develop a meaningful network of people working on sisal technologies, a tow-day workshop on 'Sisal Fiber Technologies' was inaugurated jointly by Advanced Materials and Processes Research Institute (AMPRI) and Material Research Society of India (MRSI) here.

The programme was inaugurated by Dr PC Angelo of PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, Dr DK Biswas, Scientist in-charge, Sisal Research Station, Bamra and Dr N Ramakrishnan, Director AMPRI.

In his keynote address Dr Ramakrishnan highlighted the use of sisal in the production of various applications. He said that sisal is biodegradable, as it is green fibre. He added that it would be preferred by multinationals for high-end production. It has varieties of applications from low-end to high-end applications. This workshop will present a holistic picture of the whole activities.

On this occasion a book named 'Sisal Fiber Technologies for Sustainable Rural Employment Generation' has been released. This book is treatise on the available sisal fibre technologies, which will be disseminated to various people and organisations working on sisal fiber.

In the first session Dr DK Biswas, Scientist in-charge, Sisal Research Station, Bamra, Orissa gave the keynote address followed by 4 papers were presented.

Dr CS Kar of GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology discussed the problems and prospects of sisal of cultivation. V Vasudeva Rao of FFID, Hyderabad spoke on economic viability of starting sisal plantation in drought prone area.

In the second session keynote address delivered by Prof C Lakshmana, IIT, Chennai. He spoke on the development of biodegradable natural fiber composites, which find use for consumer durable composites. Dr Mohini Saxsena, a senior scientist of AMPRI, Bhopal highlighted on the growing use of sisal fiber composites for engineering applications.