The Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC) will work towards promoting fibre extracted from banana in a big way, senior officials of KVIC said today.
"We are promoting and thus facilitating research in extracting fibre from banana leaves which are abundant in eastern region, for production of wearable items, gifts and household items," Director KVIC (West Bengal) Siddhartha Roy told PTI at a buyer-seller meet-cum-exhibition here.
"We are promoting the extraction of fine, soft and durable yarn from the banana leaves for stitching them into clothes and to make it commercially viable," Roy explained.
He said the focus would be on villages not in towns since it has great employment potential
To a question, Roy said once the fabrics matched the three categories of fineness, softness and durability inlong run, there could be fashion shows in the long run in cities to create buzz about the products.
KVIC hon'ble member (East Zone) Dr Sangeeta Kumari said banana fibre can be variously used in making handmade paper bag, statue, pen stand, besides garments and can be as distinct and exclusive as silk yarns.
Apart from Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Assam and Andaman & Nicobar islands, craftsmen in Kerala and Hyderabad are also involved in this sector, she said explaining the KVIC is not doing any R & D work in this field on its own but working as facilitator to popularise it.
About KVIC's future road map, Roy said, "Our main sector is Khadi and we have already set Rs 58 crore target for Bengal."
"However KVIC will not be involved in any negative activities like tobacco, animal slaugher etc. We always promote eco-friendly activities like launching KVIC-funded e-rickshwas in Andaman & Nicobar Islands," he said.
Altogether 22 units, from Kalpi in UP, Kerala, Guwahati, Burswan, Jharkhand were participating in the buyer-seller meet cum exhibition.
"We have been involved in this for decades in Kerala but now we wish to impart latest global touch to our various products and KVIC can be the stimulator, one of the participants Patricia T from Kerala said.
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