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There are examples that yarn is being produced from banana trees and various products are being made from that yarn, but for the first time a saree has been made using yarn made from banana stem fibres.
Radhavati Devi, a weaver from Moulvibazar, has made a full-length saree in Bandarban, far from her home as Bandarban Deputy Commissioner Yasmin Parvin Tibriji took an initiative of making various handicrafts from the yarn made of banana stem fibres.
The weaver took 15 days to experimentally make the saree named as ‘Kolaboti’ with just one kg of yarn.
The DC took a project of making yarn from banana stem fibres and making various handicrafts from that yarn in 2021 for social development and economic self-sufficiency of the backward communities of Bandarban.
Later, in coordination with various entrepreneurs, she took measures to provide training to the youths in different neighbourhoods of the district in making handicrafts from the yarn of banana trees.
After the training, the women of the area started making various handicrafts including bags, shoes, files, vases and pen holders from the yarn made of the banana stem fibres. The district administration has also arranged a shop called ‘Branding Bandarban’ in Neelachal tourism spot to sell the handicrafts made by them to the tourists so that the products reach the people all over the country.
Gradually, when handicrafts made from banana tree yarn became widely appreciated by everyone including tourists, the deputy commissioner took the initiative to make sarees from banana tree yarn.
At first, she proposed the handloom artisans of Bandarban to make the saree, but they did not show interest. So, she brought weaver Radhavati Devi from the Manipuri-populated Mahergao village of Kamalganj upazila in Moulvibazar to Bandarban.
After that, with help of a local entrepreneur, she started making the saree with the yarn of banana stem for the first time in the country’s history. After 15 days of hectic effort, Radhavati completed making the saree.
Deputy Director of Bandarban Women Affairs Department Atia Chowdhury said, “For the first time, we have made the saree following the traditional way. A proposal has been sent to the Ministry of Textiles and Jute for commercial production using modern technology. We have many entrepreneurs in the distrrict, hopefully through them we can make sarees commercially from banana stem yarn.”
Regarding this exceptional initiative, Bandarban Deputy Commissioner Yasmin Parvin Tibriji said, “Thousands of tourists from different parts of the country come to visit Bandarban every day. Women have been making various handicrafts from the yarn of the banana stem mainly targeting tourists.
These products have great demand among tourists.”
“Therefore, we took this initiative from the idea of what else can be made from the yarn of the banana tree at a low cost and in a short time. For the first time, we have succeeded in making a saree from banana yarn. We hope this saree will be popular among tourists as well,” she said.
If this saree can be produced commercially, the backward people of the region will be financially self-reliant as it would create employment,
the DC hoped.
“Initially, yarns worth TK 180 have been used to make this saree, but since it is time-consuming and labour intensive, its selling price can range from TK 6,000 to Tk 7,000,” the official said.
