Background Out of the 14-18 sheaths available in a pseudostem of banana, the outermost 4-6 sheaths yield course fibre, the outer 6-8 sheath give soft lustrous fibre and the rest of the middle sheaths yield very soft fibres. The quantity of fibre in each sheath depends upon its width and its location in the stem, as does its quality. Coarse fibre is extracted from outer layer of Banana pseudostem to make rope and allied products. Rope is a length of fibers, twisted or braided together to improve strength, for pulling and connecting. Ropes from outer sheath of banana pseudostem is in high demand for different applications but is made labour intensive with hand spinning or by ratt machines. Hand spinning is very tedious and slow method. Ratting machine needs a lot of space for operation. Further, production by both these methods lead to non uniform twisting and product of inferior finishing. Thereby needing the mechanization intervention . There is a huge production of banana in the country and banana pseudostem is mostly a waste product. Farmers have to make investment to clear the field for the next crop. By using the banana pseudo stem for making rope and allied product, there is economic advantage in three stages a) Farmer will get his field cleared and also the entrepreneur will, pay @ Rs 5-6/ tree b) Entrepreneur will dry the material and make it ready for rope making . The entrepreneurs who are involved in drying and allied process can also get economic advantage c) The entrepreneurs who are in the field of rope making and other making of handicraft from rope shall also get continuous supply of dried banana pseudostem for rope making It is a win win situation for all the persons in the supply chain. Moreover there is abundant raw material and also demand for the finished product from the rope. It is also the concept of wealth from waste . It is estimated that on an average about 5 kg wet or 1.5 kg dried outer sheath can be obtained from each plant from which 70 to 80 m of 3mm twisted rope can be produced. Technology Details:
The package of equipment consists of equipment for splitting the outer sheath of banana pseudostem and equipment for twisting and winding of splitted strands from outer sheath of banana pseudostem. It is estimated that on an average about 5 kg wet or 1.5 kg dried outer sheath can be obtained from each plant from which 70 to 80 m of 3mm twisted rope can be produced. a) Equipment for splitting the outer sheath of banana pseudostem The equipment contains a pair of rotating nylon rollers with HSS circular cutting blades embedded on the first roller. The second roller has the grooves on the surface of the rollers such that the blades embedded on the first roller exactly fit into the grooves of the second roller. The first roller is mounted on a shaft rotated at a preset speed by a 0.5 hp variable speed motor. The outer sheath of banana pseudostem is fed in between the two rotating rollers, at 150 rpm. As the outer sheath passes between the two rollers, the sheath is split into various strands. The rollers are to be changed for different width of strands of sheath required viz., 2mm, 3mm and 4mm. b) Equipment for twisting and winding of splitted strands from outer sheath of banana pseudostem The equipment contains a mechanism for twisting and another mechanism for winding the twisted strands on four bobbins through a bobbin building mechanism . Provision is made to vary the number of twists with the help of speed control mechanism, based on the requirement of the end product. Two 0.25hp single phase motors with suitable power transmission mechanism are provided to operate the drawing, twisting and winding mechanisms. The twisted rope obtained is used for production of various eco-friendly handicraft materials like bags, window curtains, table mat etc which has huge demand both in local and international market. The developed equipment has got following advantages over manual method of twisting and winding in terms of more uniform twist, lower space requirement, less dependency on skilled labour, cheaper than manual labour and higher output. The package was developed based on the request from the entrepreneurs. The developed package has the following advantage over the traditional method 1. Higher quality rope with more uniform twist 2. Reduced space requirement Lower space requirement 3. Reduced labour requirement and human drudgery 4. Cheaper than manual method 5. Higher output than manual method