Development of Coconut Coir Fiber Packaging to Value Creation for Cold Pressed Coconut Oil Products, Tumbon Phlai Chumphon Phitsanulok Province

Abstract

The community enterprise of the Phlai Chumphon farm housewives group, Phlai Chumphon subdistrict, Phitsanulok Province produced and distributed the coconut oil products in the form of soaps, hair care products, skin care products, and the development packaging from coconut fibers to create value added for the cold-pressed coconut oil products through knowledge transfer and practiced to promote the local products powerful and sustainable.

The study aimed to 1) study and collect information about the potential of products from the Phlai Chumphon farm housewives group’s products. 2) develop packaging from coconut fibers for the cold-pressed coconut oil products. 3) assess the satisfaction in creating value added.

The study combined both qualitative and quantitative research with the community participation, which had the process as follow: 1) the in-depth interview with 33 people in the community found that they desired the identity of local products and the usage of coconut husks because, at the present, the Phlai Chumphon farm housewives group used coconut husks as fertilizer and waste. Therefore, they desired to develop the form of packaging that could add value. The form of packaging was concerned from the nearby materials to reduce the costs, be produced by themselves in the community, and made new customer acquisition in trade shows and department stores. 2) organizing the training workshop for local people to practice the forming packaging from coconut fiber and then drafted a label design on the package based on the name "Phlai Chumphon", defining the design concept by using white, green and brown to represent the nature and coconut’s color through the coconut leaf patterns which could show the products made from coconut. 3) the satisfaction questionnaire of 300 consumers by accidental sampling showed they had the high level of satisfaction in the form of overall the appropriate and beautiful packaging. The use of coconut fiber materials used in the forming of packaging reduced costs, concerned nature and be used for other benefits. The label color on the packaging indicated its naturalness. The packaging pattern could be attractive and added value to the product.