Banana fibre: A glimmer of hope and shadow of doubt for Uganda’s bioeconomy sector

The shift to a bioeconomy presents an opportunity to reduce our long-standing reliance on fossil fuels by using renewable resources, such as the use of crop biomass for the production of natural fibre. But scaling up this opportunity sustainably remains uncertain, particularly around biomass availability and factors affecting its production, functionality of the value chain, and potential impacts on farming communities. This PhD thesis used a multi-faceted approach to explore these aspects in Uganda’s banana fibre sector, which uses banana pseudostems to extract natural fibre. Findings show that industrial readiness of the sector is timely but limited in technology, business and societal aspects. Current fibre quantities vary widely across farms, and factors necessary to increase them substantially puts other farm outputs, like banana bunches for food production, at risk. Moreover, increasing fibre production under current market conditions reduces farmers’ incomes, and environmental integrity. Ultimately, the thesis proposes an Integrated Village-based Biorefinery Model (IVBM) as an alternative strategy to sustainably scale up production, especially among smallholder contexts. Targeted investment in research, policy (re)formulation, and massive public awareness also remain paramount.