UG@60: NARO makes sanitizer, hair and probiotics from bananas

As Uganda celebrates its 60th independence anniversary, the New Vision is highlighting the discoveries, innovations and inventions that Uganda has given the world. Today Jackson Sewanyana writes about the innovations in the agriculture ministry that aim to increase products from widely grown bananas.

During the New Vision’s Harvest Money Expo of March this year, one of the exhibitors was the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO). 

NARO is a government body for guidance and coordination of all agricultural research activities in the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and fisheries. 

The NARO tent showcased banana value-added products including a hand sanitiser; Banana Bio-ethanol and hair pieces and extensions made from banana fibres. 

The surprising hair was coming from the Green Banana Resistant Starch and Banana fibre research. 

Dr. Priver Namanya, the national leader of the Banana Research Program at NARO in Kawanda, says they have made dye, starch and sanitiser from bananas. 

She explains that they already have these products, in a ready-to-use state, but are still in engagements with the private sector to commercialize them. 

Their engagements have targeted companies dealing in health products like pharmaceuticals and dairy products like milk and yoghurt among others. 

According to Dr. Namanya, the starch they developed from the banana is a nutritional supplement. 

She describes it to be a probiotic, which is important for gut health. 

Probiotics are made up of good bacteria that help keep your body healthy and working well. 

These good bacteria help you in many ways, including fighting off bad bacteria when you have too much of it, helping you feel better. 

Probiotics are part of a larger picture concerning bacteria and your body — your microbiome.

Bananas have been known for long as good sources of prebiotics that activate friendly probiotic bacteria found in yoghurt and kefir. 

Probiotics are important because they support your immune system, keep your digestive system healthy and promote urinal and genital health.

“Our banana probiotic is in a powdery form. It is eventually essential in the management of diabetes and colon cancer,” Dr Namanya adds. 

For the sanitiser, Dr Namanya says, bananas have been used to make antibacterial hand sanitisers before because of their ethyl alcohol content. 

She says NARO’s intention of bringing this proven concept into reality with our bananas was to appreciate bananas beyond their usual role of just providing food for eating. 

“So instead of just wasting bananas in situations when there is no one buying them for food, manufacturers can put them to use as raw materials for making these valuable products. The sanitiser from bananas performs the same functions as any other sanitiser products that are already on the market," she says.

Perhaps the most excitable product Uganda has given the world is biodegradable hair extensions. The maker of biodegradable hair extensions from banana fibres is Juliet Tumusiime of Naalya.

 She produces them in three colours of black, brown and blonde. 

“For now, we are producing hair extensions used for only plaiting braids,” she said. 

“It is 100% banana fibre biodegradable.” 

Tumusiime says she was working with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for nine years. During that time, she used to manage different agricultural projects, with banana programs inclusive. 

“With time, I realized that banana stems and fibres are mostly used for mulching, if not just thrown away. I took advantage of the UN’s advocacy for the commercialization of its developmental products, to pay more attention to adding value to their stems and fibres. That is how we started research on biodegradable hair extensions from bananas,” she said.

The research was conducted in 2015 and, by 2017, they started realizing the fruits of the project. 

They produced the first set of biodegradable hair extensions from banana stems and fibres. 

“We just get a banana stem, extract the fibres out of them and dry them up. We then have them treated, combed and dried again. They become soft, tough and hard to break. We finally pack them as ready products for sale,” she says.

Tumusiime says bananas are high-value products. But she doesn’t have the capacity to produce them in large quantities. That is why she is reluctant to cause an urge or demand for them on a large market. 

For now, she makes her products on order. On average, a month, she can produce 3-5kg of hair. She packs them differently in packets of 10g, 20g, 50g and 100g. For now, she sells every 10gs at $20. 

Her major market is among the people in her circles, especially in the US, UK, Australia, Ireland, DR Congo and Nigeria. Tumusiime says she has a few customers locally. 

She says many Ugandans have not yet embraced the biodegradable banana fibre hair extensions.

They complain that it is expensive.

Tumusime says she intends to invest in more machinery because the process is still largely manual, tedious, time-consuming and costly. 

She hopes machines will help make timely productions, in large quantities at less costs.