Molded fiber products using agriculture residues are economical and environmentally beneficial. Molded fiber manufacturing is different from molded pulp. The present invention discloses a method of and an apparatus for the manufacturing of molded fiber shaped body (10) using low consistency fiber slurry (12) subject to vacuum-forming and thermo-curing. The use of porous material as mold inserts for both vacuum-forming (101) and thermo-curing (102) stations provides improved productivity and enables ease of mold release. The incorporation of self-cleaning techniques further ensures consistent performance of the manufacturing system.