Golden Fiber In The Garden Volunteers of Agro Research Committee (ARC)

Our project  To study importance of Banana Plant in our economy and  Suggest ways to maximise gains from banana plant

Our research question  How can we make optimum use of banana plant in the region?

Our journey  We visited Banana estate and observed how it is cultivated.

Facts about Banana Plant  Banana tree can be 3m - 8m high  Weight around 50kg - 300kg  It will live for months  Banana plants are the largest plants on earth without a woody stem as lilies, orchids and palms - Farmers of Banana Estate

Our journey  We conducted internet research on strategies to maximise returns from banana plant  We studied different parts of Banana plant and its utility

Banana Stem  Average weight is around 125kg – 150kg  Dry weight is 20% of the natural weight  Whole stem is made of natural fibers  Some times fibers are longer, more than 7m We searched for many ways to use the stem optimally

Fibers from the Stem  Step One  Mature stems are cut and the skin is peeled off.  More inner layers give more smoother fibers

Step Two  The fiber is bundled and cooked for several hours in alkaline and with the lid on.  After boiling, the fiber is washed to remove the alkali.

Step Three  Separate the fibers using light wood and fingers  Separated fibers twisted up on a spinning wheel

Step Four  Fibers can be coloured and let them dry for few days  After that it could be use as normal fibers like cotton, wool or Jute.  With the Banana fibers, different kind of materials can be made specially for handlooms.

Different Banana Cloths

Other things that can be done Brushes Paper

Stem can be turned in to PULP to make paper  The Banana stem can be turned in to pulp and pulp can be used directly for bags and boxes or further delignifed, during bleaching, to produce white pulp for printing and writing

With the PULP  To make 1 kg of pulp need 125 kg of natural banana stem.  With 1 kg of banana pulp, 2400 A4 papers can be produce That means one Banana plant can produce 5 bundles of A4 sheets

Promote Banana Cultivation in Sri Lanka   Banana cultivation should be given the high priority amongst the other food crops in Sri Lanka.   Awareness to be created among farmers on uses of parts of the banana plant.

Promote Banana Cultivation in Sri Lanka   Farmers should be encouraged to grow banana crop for its high economic gains.   Advantages of growing banana should be informed to farmers like less water and input materials required to grow Banana compare to growing rice.   The profit will grow four times for the farmers if they switch over to Banana plantation.

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