A Ugandan company turns banana fibre into sustainable handicrafts

Manager of Texfad, John Baptist Okello checks a handmade carpet woven from banana fibre threads, at Texfad factory in Sonde, Mukono District, Uganda. Photo: AP

A decapitated banana plant is almost useless, an inconvenience to the farmer who must then uproot it and lay its dismembered parts as mulch.

But can such stems somehow be returned to life? Yes, according to a Ugandan company that's buying banana stems in a business that turns fibre into attractive handicrafts.