Skill Letts
VIEWS, VOICE & WAYS OF SKILLS
An in house journal of Additional Skill Acquisition Programme
FROM BANANA FIBRE TO BEAUTIFUL ARTIFACT … A success story!
Murugesan refers to himself an ' ordinary farmer '. " I own two-and-a-half acres of land where we used to harvest rice and bananas. Due to lack of rain and fluctuating crop prices, we were not making enough money," he said.
Five years ago, Murugesan realised there was a lot of waste generated every time bananas and rice were harvested. Murugesan extracted banana fibre with a machine developed with the support of IIT and made five different products, but he was not able to market them.“ In order to market these products, I took the guidance of the experts from IIT Madras who under the village development scheme are supporting me,” says Murugesan, whose products now get exported to England, France, Singapore and Malaysia. Bangalore-based Indian Handicrafts company gave his first big order to produce 50,000 pieces within three months. There was no looking back. Murugesan manufactures products worth Rs 3.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh every month, employs 80 people and has set up a unit in Thanjavur just to stitch bags. His products are exported to UK, Korea and France. Murugesan is a recipient of a number of national awards for excellence and innovation in agriculture. He has received the best PMEGP( Prime Minister’ s Employment Generation Programme) Award from Khadi and Village Industries Commission under the Ministry of Micro, small and Medium Enterprises, Best Agri Entrepreneurship Award from Chief Minister of Gujarat, National Farmer Scientist Award from Union Ministry for Agriculture and Best Entrepreneur Award from Krishi Vigyan Kendra at Jabalpur. His success has motivated many others to start similar banana rope making units in other districts also.
(
For more details on production cost and requirements to start a business http:// 365days365businessideas. blogspot. in / 2014 / 02 / start-business-in-banana-fibre. html
Excerpts from articles published in Financial Express Jan 17 2017 edition, Hindu and Times of India on Organic farming February 2017 Page 9