We make handbags, sanitary towels from banana fibre

A man extracting banana fiber from Banana pseudo stems in Kirinyaga County where the commodity is being used for making handbags , door marts and other tourist attracting commodities [PHOTO:MUNENE KAMAU/STANDARD]

Banana farmers have for many years only eaten or sold the fruit and discarded its stem. Unknowingly, they have been trashing a valuable part of the plant known for its high fibre. In Kirinyaga County alone, farmers destroy at least 10 million stems annually. Had they been extracting fibre from the banana stems, they would be at least Sh1.2 billion richer every year.

But in what promises to change the fortunes of the Kirinyaga farmers, a local NGO has intensified campaigns to promote banana farming for purposes of food and income generation with emphasis on fibre extraction.

The Integrated Community Organisation for Sustainable Empowerment and Education for Development (ICOSEED), whose officials visited India on an educational tour, hopes to make a difference in the lives of local farmers whose dependence on sisal farming is yet to address hunger and poverty.

During the 2012 visit to India, the NGO’s CEO Patrick Muriuki and chairman Muchiri Makanga learnt that the banana pseudo stems farmers have been discarding after harvesting the crop, were highly valued due to their fibre with the same quality as sisal.

‘’We came and introduced the idea here. On realising the farmers were more than willing to plant more bananas, we imported one banana fibre extractor from India,’’ Muriuki said.

Among the products made from the banana fibre include bags, ropes, sanitary towels, paper, table mats, door mats, baskets and wall hangings, according to the NGO.

“Since banana farming is one of the growing enterprises, we have 117 banana farming groups who harvest and sell 10 million banana crop in the market annually. More than 10 million pseudo banana stems are thus obtained,” the official said.

He said the 10 million banana pseudo stems can comfortably generate approximately 150 million kilogrammes of fibre annually. He however said of the 10 million pseudo stems, they can only access four tonnes per month from between 200 and 300 pieces of stems due to limitations with the extracting machine.

Muriuki said they move with the machine from one farmers’ group to another while extracting and drying fibre and individual farmers are paid per stem supplied. The county government has constructed modern shades at Giacai, Mururi and Kiamutugu markets where the buying and selling take place.

“Once the fibre is dry, they are handed over to a group of 52 elderly women for twining and further colouring. This is where direct job opportunities for vulnerable groups emerge,” he said.

The twinned threads are then handed over to the hand loom operators who make cloth from the fibre. Farmers, according to Muriuki earn Sh20 per kilogram of fibre extracted at the farm gate level without incurring any costs on transport.

Muriuki said within the short time the project has existed, several jobs have been created.

“Indirectly, we engage casuals who carry the pseudo stems to the extractor. We also employ women who twine the fibre. This translates to about 400 jobs for locals,” he said, adding they also have women who make ciondos from the fibre and sell at competitive prices.

“Approximately, 400 farmers benefit every year from this project. The disabled have also been incorporated in the value adding chain of the ciondos. They decorate them with beads to make them suitable for sale at local and international tourist markets,” Muriuki said. Jean Njeri Munene, a retired teacher, is a beneficiary the project. She said she has found value in banana farming.

‘’I harvest between 50 and 100 bananas every two weeks and you can see the number of pseudo banana stems I cut out from my farm,” she said.

“Marketing of the extracted fibre remains ICOSEED’s business. My role is only to witness the weighing and wait for cash to be transferred to my bank account,” she said.