Ugandan startup unpeels the power of banana fibres

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(8 Oct 2023) UGANDA BANANA FIBRE SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS RESTRICTION SUMMARY: LENGTH: 7:13 ASSOCIATED PRESS Kiwenda, Wakiso, Uganda - 23 September 2023 1. Aerial shot of banana plantation ++MUTE++ 2. Tilt up of banana tree stems 3. Wide of farmer walking through plantation 4. Close of banana bunch on tree 5. Various of farmer cutting stems 6. Close of banana stems ASSOCIATED PRESS Kasaayi, Mukono, Uganda – 20 September 2023 7. SOUNDBITE (English) John Baptist Okello, business manager, TEXFAD: “Uganda is the second-largest producer and consumer of banana in the whole world just after India. Now, why did we decide to work with banana fibre? We decided to work with banana fibre because of, number one, the advantage that Uganda as a country has, which is being one of the largest producer and then the consumer of banana in the whole world. Now, this leaves us with millions of tonnes as waste because banana grows once and harvests once, so after harvesting, then the stem is a waste. Now, because of that waste, our farmers are struggling a lot with this waste because they only earn from the fruit and then the fruit is sometimes sold as low as $1 US dollar.” ASSOCIATED PRESS Kiwenda, Wakiso, Uganda - 23 September 2023 8. Mid of truck delivering banana stems 9. Various of workers preparing banana stems for fibre extraction 10. Various of fibre extraction 11. Various of banana fibre drying 12. SOUNDBITE (English) Aggrey Muganga, team leader, Tupande Holdings: “We extract fibre threads from the sheaths of the stem, so we dry it like you can see it here, we sort it, get the dirt out of it, package it and sell it. So, our contribution in the value chain is that we put extra income in the hands of the farmer, we turn this waste into something valuable that we sell to our partners who also make things that they can sell. We are doing this to create extra income, to create employment for ourselves, and to contribute to the industrialization of Uganda and betterment of the lives of Ugandans.” 13. Various of banana fibre drying ++PART MUTE++ ASSOCIATED PRESS Kasaayi, Mukono, Uganda - 20 September 2023 14. Wide of people making hand-woven rugs from banana fibre 15. Various of banana fibre hand-woven rugs 16. SOUNDBITE (English) John Baptist Okello, business manager, TEXFAD: “Now, the products which we get out of banana fibre, like I said, banana fibre itself is a product and then, two, we have the banana fibre rugs, which are products which come out of banana fibre. We have handcrafts, which we have made out of banana fibre, talk about the lampshades, those are the kind of handcrafts which has come out of banana fibre. Hair extensions, which is biodegradable, out of banana fibre is also what we have worked on. Now, banana fibre can be softened into the level of a cotton, it’s what right now we are working on to come up with a banana fibre fabric.” 17. Various of researchers boiling banana fibre to make hair extensions 18. Various of researchers making hair extensions 19. Various of researchers looking at computer screen 20. Mannequin with banana fibre hair extensions 21. SOUNDBITE (English) Faith Kabahuma, head of banana fibre hair department, TEXFAD: “The problem with synthetic fibres, they do so much clogging, like everywhere you go, even if you go to dig in the gardens right now, you would find synthetic fibres around, so it's not environmentally-friendly compared to this. This is biodegradable, so it can rot in the soil, it doesn’t stop water going through our soil, unlike these (synthetic hair).” ASSOCIATED PRESS LEADIN: Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/11b3f5381d354846a3b6ef830192247b