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In Bihar, farmers are turning banana stems into organic fertilizer, becoming a source of income. Farmers engaged in banana cultivation are not only using its fruit but also making organic fertilizer from its stems, which is proving to be an additional source of income for them. After the successful use of this fertilizer, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, situated in Samastipur, Bihar, is also providing training to farmers. For this purpose, machines have been installed, and around 250 farmers have already been trained.
In India, more than 90% of the produced bananas are consumed as fresh fruit at the domestic level. Processing in bananas is only about 2.50%. The biggest challenge in front of banana-producing farmers is to transform this vast biomass of banana stems into value-added products. Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University initiated a financially supported project last year and has seen successful results. The university's Vice-Chancellor, Dr. P.S. Pandey, states that many benefits have been obtained. By processing banana stems and making various value-added products, people have benefitted. Waste banana stems are used to extract fiber, and it is used to make mats, hats, bags, baskets, calendars, and other useful items.
Usually, after the banana harvest, farmers burn the discarded stems. However, banana-producing farmers are now extracting value from these stems, making vermi compost fertilizer, extracting fiber, and creating useful items like mats, hats, bags, baskets, calendars, etc. Dr. S.K. Singh, the lead investigator of this project, mentions that nearly 50 tons of vermi compost fertilizer have been prepared from banana stems as part of this research. Farmers are continuously being trained. Farmers say that previously, nothing was obtained from banana except its fruit. There was some demand for stems in certain religious activities, but now the demand for stems is equal to the demand for bananas.
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