The circular bioeconomy, with its rapidly growing global significance, offers immense opportunities for agricultural countries like Pakistan. It revolves around transforming agricultural waste, by-products, and co-products into food, bioenergy, and other materials through recycling, reusing, and repurposing.
It reduces the reliance on virgin resources, particularly fossil fuels and petrochemical materials, and also decreases waste disposal into the environment. This, in turn, helps mitigate land and air pollution and address challenges like climate change, ecological degradation, and biodiversity loss.
Globally, many countries are tapping into the potential of the circular bioeconomy through comprehensive policies and strategies. Finland’s national bioeconomy strategy (2022-2035) aims to integrate agriculture and forestry with bio-based industrial applications. Sweden focuses on replacing fossil-based resources with bio-based renewable alternatives. Ikea, the famous multinational of Sweden, is utilising bio-based adhesives and recycled wood in its furniture manufacturing. The Netherlands is promoting bioplastics and bio-based chemicals derived from agricultural residues. Similarly, India is expanding its production of textiles made from banana fibre.
Under the umbrella of the circular bioeconomy, products like compostable packaging derived from cornstarch, biofuels (bioethanol, biodiesel, and biogas) produced from energy crops and agricultural residues, and bio-fertilisers and compost made from crop waste are gaining traction globally.
Banana fibre, after being blended with cotton, could be used to create textiles and other value-added products
Unfortunately, no concerted efforts have so far been made in Pakistan to promote the circular bioeconomy, whether for value addition or to mitigate air pollution caused by crop residue burning. This burning is a major contributor to smog, whose intensity, geographic spread, and adverse effects on public health and the economy are worsening with each passing year.
In the country, the potential of a circular bioeconomy is immense across several agricultural value chains. Take, for instance, one of Pakistan’s perennial fruit crops, bananas. Each year, banana orchards generate an enormous amount of biomass due to the plant’s unique behaviour. After harvesting the fruit once, the pseudostem (stem) becomes permanently non-productive. Farmers cut it down, allowing new suckers from the base to grow and bear fruit in the next year.
Farmers often struggle to dispose of this massive volume of waste. In most cases, they have no choice but to discard the stems along orchard boundaries or roadsides. That is why heaps of such stems can be seen near almost every banana orchard. Once the stems dry out, farmers set them on fire. This practice not only contributes to environmental pollution but also poses health risks to the households living in the vicinity.
In Pakistan, the volume of banana biomass has been steadily increasing due to a rise in the banana area, which grew impressively by 32 per cent in just four years — from 29,735 hectares in 2018-19 to 39,280 hectares in 2022-23. Typically, 2,000-3,700 banana plants are planted per hectare.
Just like many other countries, Pakistan can convert such a huge biomass (stems and leaves) into sustainable banana fibre, providing an eco-friendly alternative to cotton.
This can not only mitigate environmental pollution but also reduce reliance on cotton imports, which have increasingly strained Pakistan’s foreign exchange in recent years due to a decline in cotton production — 13.96 million bales in 2014-15 to around 6m bales (estimated) in 2024-25, owing to reduced acreage and yields.
Banana fibre is a low-cost yet one of the strongest natural fibres. It is extracted from banana stems — mainly composed of cellulose — using a small locally made machine that costs around Rs 300,000. The fibre, after being blended with cotton, is utilised to create a variety of value-added products, including textiles, baby pampers, sanitary pads, ropes, fishing nets, mats, footwear, gloves, etc. Additionally, paper products and biodegradable packaging (burlap bags, tote bags) are prepared, which offer a sustainable and eco-friendly alternative to plastic waste and other petrochemical material.
Such value addition provides farmers with a sustainable alternative to environmentally harmful practices while enabling them to generate additional income. Moreover, banana fibre presents an opportunity for the textile sector to develop and market a range of products globally at competitive prices.
Despite these advantages, the vast potential remains largely unexploited in Pakistan. Currently, less than 1pc of banana waste is converted into fibre, with only 50 machines installed across various districts of Sindh — a province that accounts for 96pc of Pakistan’s banana area.
The irony lies in the fact that banana farmers and small enterprises are eager to produce banana fibre, textile mills are ready to procure it, universities in Pakistan are actively researching ways to improve its quality and develop value-added products, and development agencies are willing to fund such eco-friendly initiatives. Yet, the government remains absent from this promising equation.
In conclusion, each year, Pakistan generates millions of tonnes of biomass from many crops, most of which is burnt in situ on farms, offering no value to farmers or the country. To harness the potential of these valuable resources, Pakistan urgently needs a comprehensive policy, an enabling environment, and a well-focused strategy. As the world transitions from a fossil-based economy to a bio-based economy, Pakistan cannot afford to fall further behind.
Dr Waqar Ahmad is a former Associate Professor at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, and Khalid Wattoo is a farmer and a development professional
Join DawnMedia’s Breathe Pakistan initiative to combat climate change
Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, January 27th, 2025
Dear visitor, the comments section is undergoing an overhaul and will return soon.