Gujarat: Paper made from banana trunk can last for 700 years, finds Navsari Krushi University researcher

Navsari : Generally, bananas are grown in India only as a fruit. Banana stems were not used anywhere after taking the fruit. But the trunk can also be used to make high quality stationery and currency notes. Chirag Desai, a scientist at the Banana Research Center, Navsari Krushi University, and his team have made a yarn by separating the fiber from the unused trunk through a special process to make fabrics from it. Chirag Desai said the paper has a lifespan of 700 years and can last three times longer than old currency notes.

The quality of paper made from banana fiber is good
Chirag Desai, a scientist at Navsari Krushi University, said that paper made from banana fiber has a long life and good quality. Which is why if this paper is used to make important government documents, cheque books can be a good benefit. This paper can be used for students’ marksheets, certificates which are to be maintained for a long time. A good benefit can be obtained if it is made from banana paper.

Chirag Desai said that when the project was started in 2008-09, work was being done on what could be made from banana fiber. Then different works were started to make paper out of it. Because banana fiber is used in currency notes in the Philippines and Japan. Based on this, we started working so that we can work on making currency notes, different handmade papers from banana fiber. After five years of experimenting in it from 2008-09 to 2012-13, we have used good and high quality banana fiber paper.

The life of paper made from banana trunks can last up to 700 years
Chirag Desai said that the project was undertaken at Navsari University to make various valuable items from banana trunks. Fiber is extracted from the trunk of a banana. Yarns were made from it by the Navsari Krushi University and fabrics were made from it. We can also make various papers out of it. We can also make high quality currency grade papers from it. In which the private company has also got such good cooperation. If we talk about this currency grade paper, if paper is made from banana trunk fiber, the life of that paper can last up to 700 years, according to a research. If we use this currency grade to make a variety of currencies, we can give good quality currency notes.

Chirag Desai said that in currency grade paper what we call manifold capacity means how many times we can bend the paper. So different experiments were done on how many times this paper could be folded. So the old currency note could be folded 1200 times, if we made a currency note out of fiber from a banana trunk, we could fold it three thousand times. So it can be said that if a currency note is made from banana fiber, it can last three times longer.

If any private entrepreneur wants to make this paper from fiber from a banana trunk, he can make good quality paper. This fiber is used in Navsari Krushi University to make stationery of different grades and stationery made from banana fiber is supplied to all the five agricultural universities in the state of Gujarat.