Earn Dollars With Cardaba or Saba Banana Leaves

Earn Dollars With Cardaba or Saba Banana Leaves – Cardaba or Saba leaves are a non-traditional product that could earn dollars for enterprising entrepinoy. It could be developed to provide additional income for the farm families. It may be something that will not make the farm families millionaire but it could add much needed cash income to make life easier and more comfortable.

As of now, the Alcantara Group, the country’s biggest bangus exporter, is shipping 12 tons of frozen banana leaves a month to one buyer who will now need 20 tons monthly. The banana leaves are biodegradable materials that not only the Filipino communities in the US need but also the Mexicans for their tamales and other food preparations.
The banana leaves that are currently exported are sourced from different communities. With the right training on how to take care of the plants as well as how to harvest and handle the leaves, it could become some kind of cottage industry in the Philippine countryside. One family could take care of 50 to 100 banana plants. From 50 plants in the backyard, the owner can harvest around P400 worth of leave a month. With 100, that’s P800 a month.

Banana plant can yield 16 leaves within its productive life. It can also produce one banana blossom which can also be sold. No fruits, however, can be expected to grow to maturity. The grower usually gets P3 for each leaf bought by the Alcantara Group. In the US it is said to retail at 70 to 89 cents per pound.

With the increasing global clamor for biodegradable materials for packing and wrapping food products, it is expected that the demand for banana leaves will grow.