From banana stems to certificates

--Century old Japanese technology at work in Mfuwe

VIOLET MENGO

Mfuwe

Mercy demonstrating.

MERCY Mapulanga, a single mother of three who also takes care of some of her extended family, is one of the first persons in Mfuwe to learn how to extract fiber from banana stems to make paper products such as plain papers, business cards, certificates, stickers and note books.

You can call it her first real job.

She learnt to do this under a project called Banana Paper Project, which is being run by One Planet Café, a public benefit organization founded by….. The organization is focused on reducing poverty and environmental problems using business solutions.

One Planet Café started the project in South Luangwa, where it works with women and organic banana farmers in South Luangwa, which although known for its abundant wildlife, also has a fair share of poverty.

Recently, a team from the Japanese Embassy was in Mfuwe to check on the Banana Paper Project. The Japanese have an interest in the project as it is a collaboration between them and Zambia meant to create jobs and education opportunities for people living in poverty while at the same time protecting the environment.

This is a typical case of technology transfer from one developed country to a developing country.

The project uses a 1500-year-old Japanese paper-making technology called Washi. In fact, the project also collaborates with paper factories in a Japanese Washi town to finalise the quality of the product, one which is fit to print on.

products made from banana stem

For the Mfuwe project, other than creating employment opportunities for the likes of Mercy, it also helps the farmers. One Planet Café has created a network of organic banana farmers in Zambia, who it buys the banana stems from. Its workers, known as the Banana Team, extract very strong fiber from the stems which become the base of One Planet Cafe paper, which includes plain papers, business cards, certificates, stickers, note books and the like

The project serves not only as a means to protect forests and animals but also as a way of reducing poverty and empowering women towards sustainable development.

“When I serve enough money, I hope to go back to school and complete my secondary education and go to college,” Mercy, who, despite limited education, demonstrated the technics involved in the Banana Paper project to the Japanese Embassy officials, said.

“I am here as part of the team trained to extract fiber from the banana stem, I do this every day and I am really enjoying working here.”

Further, a green factory has been built in Mfuwe; this is a showcase for the banana paper and pulp production connected to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In 2016, at the World Fair Trade Organisation, formerly the International Federation of Alternative Traders, the banana paper became Japans’ first ever Fair Trade Verified paper.

One Planet Café director Peo Ekberg is happy with the value that project is adding to the community as it has been able to develop a high quality sustainable paper that integrates both the environmental and social values.

“Our Banana Paper is made from disposable (waste product) banana stems. We only buy stems from organic banana fields, and emphasise the use of the fruit before cutting the stems,” Mr Ekberg said.

In a disadvantaged community, this creates an added value to economically underprivileged farmers.

The banana fruit grows only once. Farmers have to cut the “banana tree” to allow a new fruit to grow. While a small part of the cut stem is used as organic fertilisers, the majority becomes waste, and it is this waste that is being turned into paper.

planting a banana stem

In this part of the country, education and job opportunities indeed few. It is a scenario that compels many people to engage in what can be termed as destructive income generating ventures such as cutting of trees for firewood and charcoal burning. This, is turn, further fuels the already high rate of deforestation obtaining in the country. The rate of deforestation in Zambia is estimated to be about 250, 000 to 300, 000 hectares per year.

But that is not all, for others, they resort to poaching. Mind you, the South Luangwa is a haven of wildlife, boasting a collection that includes elephant, buffalo, lion, hippo, leopard, 400 species of birds and much more.

With that, Mr Ekberg believes innovative ideas, if only to save the disappearing habitat.

“Alternative means of paper production is the answer and the banana way may just be the solution for Zambia,” Mr Ekberg says.

He believes that an ecosystem-based business needs to include not only people but also the rest of the five million plus species. He says humans use more than one million tonnes of paper everyday of which 90 percent is made from trees. Convention paper is made from trees that can take 10 to 30 years to grow while banana plants take only a year to grow back after being cut.

Therefore, the banana paper is a highly renewable resource that protects forests and animals while creating employment for the local people like Mercy by adding value to waste.

The paper is already being used by more than 10, 000 people in Japan. Among the companies using the banana paper are Lush Body Shop Japan, Toyota, Hybrid Academy, Panasonic, Ricoh, the Tokyo University of the Arts and the United Nations Habitat.

Eastern province minister Makebi Zulu says the banana project is a true reflection of the vast raw materials in the province and the importance of value addition.

“The extended factory will not only create employment for the local people, but improve their lives and spur economic growth,” Mr Zulu says.

Under what is called the Grassroots for Human Security projects, the Japanese Government has been providing assistance to Zambia for almost 30 years now, with well over 160 projects completed in various sectors.

Its primary objective is to support various development and human security projects at the grassroots level.

Japanese ambassador to Zambia Hidenobu Sobashima commended One Planet Café Zambia for the innovative undertaking of making paper from banana stems, employing 23 residents and benefiting 250 members of their families.

banana products

Now wonder, the banana paper is an award-winning paper having been awarded the 2013 Social Business “Dream Award” in Japan and also at the 2016 Agriculture and Tourism Show in Zambia.