Kenaf – The Environmental Entrepreneurship Powerhouse

Kenaf, Hibiscus cannabinus L.is a heat season yearly carefully similar to cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) and okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.).

Kenaf can be made use of as a domestic source of cordage fiber in the manufacture of rope, twine, carpet backing and burlap. Investigate, in the early 1940s, focused on the improvement of substantial-yielding anthracnose-resistant varieties, cultural procedures and harvesting machinery.

For the duration of the 1950s, kenaf was determined as a promising fiber source for paper pulp. Kenaf fibers have been processed into high high-quality newsprint and bond paper.

Even though kenaf is generally thought of a fiber crop, exploration implies that it has substantial protein material and, for that reason, is a potential livestock feed. Crude protein in kenaf leaves ranged from 21 to 34 per cent, stalk crude protein ranged from 10 to 12 percent, and complete-plant crude protein ranged from 16 to 23 per cent.

Kenaf can be ensilaged properly, and it has satisfactory digestibility with a significant percentage of digestible protein. Digestibility of dry matter and crude proteins in kenaf feeds ranged from 53 to 58 p.c, and 59 to 71 percent, respectively Kenaf food, employed as a nutritional supplement in a rice ration for sheep, when compared favorably with a ration that contains alfalfa food.

In addition to the use of kenaf for cordage, paper pulp and livestock feed researchers have investigated its use as poultry litter and animal bedding, bulking agent for sewage sludge composting and as a potting soil amendment. Further products include auto dashboards, carpet padding, corrugated medium, as a “substitute for fiberglass and other synthetic fibers,” developing supplies (particle boards of a variety of densities, thicknesses, and fireplace and insect resistances), absorbents, textiles and as fibers in extraction molded plastics.

Kenaf is in the Hibiscus family, is cousin to Cotton and Okra, and is now grown predominantly in China and India for its substantial energy fibers. No one has focused on kenaf for foodstuff simply because the leaves did not style great. Nonetheless, a distinctive strand acknowledged as Whitten Kenaf was created by the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station and produced for typical use in 2005. These leaves taste really good, a kind of lemony, Cajun taste. This assortment of kenaf has broad cotton formed leaves, can be used for foodstuff, has been developed for foods in Haiti for 3 decades wherever they adore the flavor and have designed their have recipes. The leaves, seeds, stalk and core are all individual harvests. The end result is various works by using and gains.

The kenaf plant is 1 of the quickest expanding plants in the entire world, a great deal faster than regional weeds, so it necessitates minimal soil planning and is straightforward to plant and keep. Mainly because the soil does not have to be tilled, highest microorganism density is taken care of and chemical fertilizers are not wanted Kenaf is an really effective plant that takes advantage of small assets, with extraordinary output. Kenaf plants grow up to 20 feet tall. 1 acre can produce as considerably as 20 tons of biomass in 6 months.

Lower Drinking water Use

The stalk and roots have the capacity to store water like a camel, so the plant performs extremely very well, even in arid/drought conditions where by most other plants fall short. When planted just before wet season, no abide by-up watering is desired. This absolves the will need for highly-priced irrigation and water legal rights concerns.

Leaves Feed Human beings

Whitten Kenaf leaves are delightful and high in protein, up to 34%. It is consistently eaten in Haiti in soups, salads, boiled like spinach or included to rice. Kenaf can be eaten in 10 days of planting, when just 18 inches tall, and the leaves and stems can be constantly harvested from that stage forward. Just about every planted seed has the likely of creating 80 servings of edible food. Therefore, it can be used as a substantial protein starvation aversion crop. In simple fact, 2,000 individuals in Mirebalais, Haiti applied kenaf to preserve from starving in 2009.

In Haiti, numerous kenaf leaf recipes have been designed. Seeds Feed Humans can be ground into amazing gluten-cost-free flour for baking. In Mirebalais, Haiti they use kenaf flour for numerous recipes. 1/2 pound of kenaf flour can make 20 to 30 pan sized breakfast pancakes.

There is a extensive custom of making use of kenaf for food items in India to create gongura. There are a lot of recipes and images of foods based on gongura on the world wide web.

Funds Crop

Kenaf seeds are sold by the pound, which consists of about 20,000 seeds. 1 pound of kenaf seed at present prices $4.00 USD. In weak soil circumstances, 1 kenaf plant provides about 200 seeds. 10 acres of inadequate soil can expand 10,000 lbs of kenaf seed for each developing period, symbolizing $40,000 USD of earnings. Florida investigation farmer Harry Extensive, in cooperation Mr. Loftus, arrived up with an natural and organic method exactly where they yielded 11,382 seeds per plant!! It will take about 1 yr from planting time just before regional farmers can harvest and promote the seeds as a revenue crop. They can promote the stalks as firewood at that time, way too.

Animal Feed:

Leaves can be dried and turned into unique sized pellets as high protein feed for rabbits, fish, chickens, and goats. Rabbit meat is truly great for you, remaining reduced in fat and cholesterol and greater in protein than beef. Industrial quality rabbit farming and fish farming (tilapia) can be sustained with kenaf pellets. (The US presently imports $750M of tilapia for each yr from China.)

A backyard farming technique is also getting perfected for compact scale manufacturing of rabbits, fish, chickens, and goats, on small plots of land utilizing residence developed kenaf pellets, virtually eradicating feed fees. This provides meat, fish, poultry, eggs, and dairy solutions for loved ones use and for sale/export. This could be a self sustaining resource of foodstuff and earnings for the poorest of the very poor. They can make $25 per 7 days rising and picking their possess kenaf for animal feed, starting off within just 2 months of planting the seed. This won’t even choose into thing to consider the money they can receive from marketing their livestock.

Cooking Fuel:

Cooking Fuel: The kenaf stalk has a heat value similar to burning pine. A minimal value, risk-free, smokeless Kenaf Stove has been designed for higher effectiveness cooking and bio-char (a form of charcoal) production. The Kenaf Stove burns kenaf or wooden in an oxygen deprived surroundings, resulting in a a lot cleaner, no smoke fire in which the fuel lasts Significantly extended. 4 family members can have a year’s source of fuel from a football field size of planted kenaf. When the air source to the stove is shut off, bio-char is developed. Producing bio-char from kenaf and putting it into the soil as a soil modification replenishes the soil and features as a fertilizer and a soil stabilizer.

This recapturing of waste lands can halt deforestation and desertification as people use kenaf as an alternative of collecting wooden for cooking. Any bio-char not applied as fertilizer can be molded into charcoal briquettes. The Kenaf Stove can also use grass, squander paper, etcetera. to make bio-char which is then made into charcoal briquettes. Households can then promote the charcoal for earnings.

Carbon Sequestration

One acre of kenaf can sequester 8 periods as a lot carbon as an acre of evergreen trees. One acre of kenaf absorbs about 10 to 20 tons of Carbon throughout photosynthesis. When utilized as cooking fuel on the Kenaf Stove, an extra 5 tons of bio-char is manufactured. When place into the earth, this bio-char completely outlets the carbon in a effective way, in the floor.

Kenaf is carbon negative, when you put the bio-char into the soil. If we can change from coal to kenaf for producing electricity, we can sequester plenty of CO2 for each 12 months to absolutely address the anthropogenic result on weather change, impacting world wide warming

Energy Era

Inventor C. Morrison has formulated a biomass electrical power plant that can use kenaf biomass to produce a hydrogen/carbon monoxide fuel identified as syngas. These gasses are ample to run an electrical generator. A single electric power plant can services an complete rural village. The biomass yield for an acre of kenaf is 3 to 4 periods better than for trees. 50 acres of kenaf can gasoline 1 electric power plant, perpetually.

This program is self-contained and poses no air high-quality, drinking water top quality, soil degradation, odor, or noise troubles. There are no exclusive development or set up requirements. It is as straightforward to work as any home equipment and is compact enough to suit on a trailer (see picture) or be mounted in a modest developing. The electric power not applied by the rural village can be bought to the electrical electrical power grid as an additional source of money. Imagine a continuous provide of electricity currently being equipped to urban centers by rural villages, this in nations plagued by typical brownouts and blackouts. The only by-product from gasification is a sellable bio-char ash that can be utilized as a soil amendment for growers.

Natural and organic Fertilizer

An low-cost organic and natural fertilizer that can be created regionally, using bio-char, is remaining produced. Bio-char functions as a dwelling for microbial action. This can be used to greatly enhance soil high quality even in the poorest of soils, without the need of working with harmful and high-priced chemical fertilizers Bio-char as a fertilizer has been recognised to double plant growth. This will enhance the yields and profitability for every square meter of the kenaf crops and other fruits and greens grown in subsequent a long time. This will guide to a virtuous cycle of escalating economic prosperity from 12 months to year, utilizing land assets now viewed as unproductive.

Kenaf bio-char can even be utilized in dealing with human bodily squander to transform the nitrogen into productive types, turning a waste solution into a useful resource. This would strengthen sanitary situations and would have been beneficial throughout the modern Cholera outbreak in Haiti. 5 gallon buckets can be employed as toilets and when merged with biochar, in just 6 months the poo and urine can be safely made use of as fertilizer. If 2 billion folks ended up to use these bogs, then 2 billion lbs . of fertilizer would be created each and every day. In excess of time we could even recapture the deserts.

Textiles The bast (slim outer bark) of the kenaf plant is a large strength fiber made use of to make burlap luggage, plastics, industrial and commercial fabrics, cordage, rope and twine.

Paper

Kenaf paper has remarkable fiber content material in contrast to wooden-dependent paper goods, and it usually takes far considerably less time to mature kenaf when compared to trees.

Setting up Resources

The fibrous outer core of plant stems can be applied to make composites, polymers, binders, biodegradable plastic, injection molded panels, engineered wood panels, substitute for carbon, glass, other mineral fibers, fibrous reinforcement of plaster, cement, and wall boards. Building The Styrofoam-like inner core of the kenaf plant can be utilized for animal bedding, kitty litter, municipal wastewater remedy, and for oil spill cleanup on land or at sea. In conjunction with recycled wooden and recycled concrete, the kenaf core can also be applied to make a light-weight pounds but really strong cement block that has terrific insulation houses and is practically fireproof. These blocks can be utilised to create one loved ones properties and multi-story structures, without the need of making use of electric power tools.

A self-sustaining environmental residence has been intended utilizing kenaf and other technologies, at a expense among $5,000 and $10,000 (relying on problems, sewage and electrical requirements and sizes) for each property. These residences will give for clean up water, housing, electrical energy, and sanitation. Supposed as a establishing country starter residence, building is so basic that young ones can assemble a residence in 1 working day< and a family can easily add-on additional rooms and rent them out as a source of extra income. This makes it possible for single mothers to become financially independent without having to work outside the home. The societal implications of this are staggering

De-urbanization

This is a side effect from effectively leveraging kenaf as a way to provide food, shelter, and a living wage, in a rural setting. People living in the city slums can move back to their rural origins and actually provide for themselves, sustainably. The Whitten variety of Hibiscus cannabinus L.,is a good tasting kenaf that has the potential to serve as a food source in many countries.

Kenaf is a plant that has the potential to change the world. It is a very old plant used by mankind. Throughout the Bible you read about sackcloth. Sackcloth is made from kenaf. Only royalty was allowed to wear linen or cotton. The poor grew kenaf, spun it and made their clothes from kenaf. They made ropes and cordage from kenaf.

Many people want to help the environment. Many people are trying to find ways to lower the greenhouse gases that are heating up our world. We worry about the Arctic ice melting and the loss of the polar bear. We are all concerned with the more and more violent weather patterns, the floods, earthquakes and volcanoes erupting. We don’t want to see sea levels rise and inundate our coastal cities. But what can one person do?

Some people have gotten involved with tree planting projects. Tree planting projects are great. They sequester quite a lot of carbon. The problem is, the people who are involved are operating in what I call an incomplete transaction. The people who have tree planting projects get the resources they need and you get the satisfaction of knowing you are doing something good but there is no return for you donation.

What if there were a way to do something really good for the environment, something that sequesters more carbon than trees…and at the same time it offers you a payback? Yes, that’s what I mean. A return on your investment. Sequester carbon, help the environment and earn money at the same time? There is a plant called kenaf that sequesters more carbon than any other species on the Earth. One acre of kenaf sequesters as much carbon as 8 acres of fast growing pine trees.

Kenaf Could Change the World If We All Got Involved In Planting It And Using It. Here’s What Kenaf Can Do:

1. Sequester More Carbon Per Acre Than Any Other Plant

2. Be Food For Humans Anywhere In The World Where There Is Hunger

3. Make Excellent Feed For Livestock including Backyard Fish Ponds

4. The Stalks Can Be Used As Firewood

5. Make Biochar For Fertilizing The Earth Organically

6. Make Beautiful Cloth That Can Be Used For Clothing And Industrial Use

7. Make Biocomposites That Can Be Used For Car Interiors

8. Be Used To Generate Electricity

9. Make A Better Quality Paper Than Pine Trees And Be Ready For Use In 6 Months Instead Of Years

10. Have Seeds That Can Be Made Into Gluten Free Flour

11. Have Seeds That Can Be Made Into A Cosmetic Oil

12. Have Leaves That Make Excellent Potherbs

13. Can Be Cut Back Many Times And When It Regrows It Produces More Food Or Feed

14. Grows Faster Than Just About Any Plant

15. Does Not Use A Lot Of Water – It Grows In Somalia

16. BioChar Made From Kenaf Can Treat Human Wastes And Turn It Into Fertilizer

17. The Inner Core Is Excellent For Animal Bedding Without Dust

18. Many Kinds Of Building Materials Can Be Made From The Bast Fiber

19. The Inner Core Fiber Can Be Made Into A Filler For A Lightweight Cement Block

20. Extracted Kenaf seed oil can be used as a bio-fuel for Diesel engines

This plant could feed people in poor countries. This plant could sequester more carbon everywhere in the world. This plant could provide biological fertilizers. And the plant has so many uses.

We need to build an organization made up of people who want to see less hunger, more firewood, inexpensive homes for poor people in developing countries. The people we seek to connect with are probably doing something green in their lives. They would just like to find a way to make it profitable while being more Green. In other words, having a complete transaction.

There is a need to find people dedicated to planting kenaf and has already developed marketing vehicles for the kenaf fiber and other products. We are actively researching vegetable dyes, making kenaf fabric water repellent with environmentally sound materials. We have plans to make back packs, tote bags, and household items from kenaf. And we are already getting ready to develop our own kenaf handmade paper project in Belize.

We invite you to invest in your kenaf planting as a member of our community.

Kenaf is the environmental entrepreneurship powerhouse with multiple profit centers.

for you. It is not a graduate course in a university. It is a down to earth program.

The climate change is getting worse. But we now have a means to take control of our environmental problems and do something to ameliorate them.

We on this planet are in a battle for our survival as a species.From time to time on this very active planet we have extinction level events (ELE). Most of them are the results of acts of nature. But we are creating our own extinction level event (ELE). When the death rock fell from the sky and wiped out the dinosaurs, they had no warning. They didn’t know what hit them. But our extinction level is happening slowly enough that we can take action. We are sentient, we have our minds and our hands. We can take command of what is happening on our world. What can I do you say? We say, “Plant kenaf.”

We can plant kenaf or invest in someone else planting it. We can stop global warming.

We can create businesses to make money for you and other investors while you help remove carbon from the atmosphere.We can all actively participate in the real war.

THE WAR TO REGENERATE OUR WORLD.

It’s time to get our planet back to normal levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. One acre of kenaf sequesters as much carbon dioxide as 8 acres of fast growing pine trees.

YOU CAN EVEN DO THIS: Planting a small kenaf plot in your garden can help take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and contribute to the battle against global warming. You could use the leaves for high protein greens, and chickens love it, too. Use the seeds for gluten-free flour, and the stalks for dust-free bedding for animals.

Planting one manzana of kenaf in a tropical country, as an investor or as a farmer, could net you thousands of dollars in monetary return, and sequester tons of carbon dioxide, providing you an environmental return.

Kenaf was used for rope and for making sackcloth 6,000 years ago. Its new uses include biocomposites being manufactured for Toyota which plans to make all its car interiors with kenaf.

Kenaf combined with recycled plastic makes an excellent building material as well as raw material for industrial use.

And, at the same time with it high protein content, it can feed the hungry of the world, people and animals.Kenaf can replace tree cutting as it makes tree free paper, can be used for people food as a potherb or gluten free flour, livestock feed, paper, biochar, carbon sequestration, fabric and biocomposites

This ecofriendly plant that has the potential to create a successful green business for you. Grow kenaf in your backyard or in a large plantation.