A Ugandan business turns banana fiber into sustainable handicrafts

The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. More than half the world’s population sees AP journalism every day.A farmer cuts down a banana plant, at her farm, in Kiwenda village, Busukuma, Wakiso District, Uganda, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023.

In Uganda, eating bananas is in many ways embedded in local customs and tradition; for many a meal is incomplete without a serving of matooke, the local word for the starchy boiled mush made from banana cultivars harvested and cooked raw.Lots of indoor farms are shutting down as their businesses struggle. So why are more being built?

John Baptist Okello, TEXFAD’s business manager, told The Associated Press that the business made sense in a country where farmers “are struggling a lot” with millions of tons of banana-related waste. The company, which collaborates with seven different farmers’ groups in western Uganda, pays $2.70 for a kilogram of dried fiber.

That number is only a small fraction of what’s available in a country where more than a million hectares are planted with bananas. Banana production has been rising steadily over the years, growing from 6.5 metric tons in 2018 to 8.3 metric tons in 2019, according to figures from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics.

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A Ugandan business turns banana fiber into sustainable handicraftsA decapitated banana plant is almost useless, an inconvenience to the farmer who must uproot it and lay its dismembered parts as mulch.
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