FORMALLY opened by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) officials and local government workers in Barangay District 2 on May 18, the Natural Textile Fiber Innovation Hub-Isabela is expected to gain an annual income of P9 million for members, aside from creating job opportunities.
The hub, located in the town of Benito Soliven, is expected to produce between 10 and 40 kilograms (kg) of treated open fibers or spinnable fibers per day, with an estimated market value of P2,613.88 per kg.
The DOST has granted P6 million worth of facilities like a decorticating machine, a mechanical softening machine, degumming equipment and a hard fiber opener, aside from technical assistance to the town’s cooperative, Solivenian Agricultural Business Association (SABA), for the project.
“The workers will process raw banana byproducts into natural textile fibers for textile creation, which will be sustainable with the abundance of banana farms in the town and in neighboring areas,” DOST-Cagayan Valley Regional Director Virginia Bilgera said in the news briefing. Once the hub has more production, the agency will tap partnerships and look for other farmers who will engage in banana farming to have a steady supply of raw materials, she said.
The SABA cooperative, established in 2023, has been embarking on developing sustainable, livelihood-generating products from banana byproducts.
Aleli Globio, SABA president, said they transform waste into opportunity by producing handmade paper from banana fibers and sustainable paper lunch boxes from harvested banana stalks sourced from about 1,200-hectare banana plantations within the villages. This has been done despite limited machinery, costly processing and the absence of large-scale paper manufacturers in the country, she said.
With the aid of the new machines, SABA has forecasted more livelihood opportunities for about 30 community members, including five technical operators assigned to machine operation and processing, along with around 25 personnel involved in raw material gathering, fiber preparation, logistics and other support activities.
Julius Leaño Jr., DOST-Philippine Textile Research Institute director, said the hub would complement the regional textile value chain in Northern Luzon and its relevant facilities: the Regional Yarn Production and Innovation Center in Isabela, a microscale yarn-spinning facility that converts processed fibers into yarns; and the Bamboo Textile Fiber Innovation Hub, focused on bamboo-based textile research and innovation at the Isabela State University in Ilagan City.
“We want to have more market opportunities and bigger financial returns for the textile industry through banana waste. We see this venture as contributory to the expansion of the textile industry in the country,” Leaño said.