Imperatives for Bamboo Textiles Production in Nigeria

Abstract

The Nigerian textile industry is currently undergoing serious decline in production as a result of its total dependence on cotton as its primary raw material.  Cotton production has dwindled considerably in the country, thereby, placing serious stains on capacity utilization in the sector.  One of the ways capacity utilization can be boosted is to introduce the utilization of bamboo as an alternative or complimentary raw material for textiles production locally.  Bamboo fibre consists of 99.51% cellulose, 0.25% ash and 0.24% wax.  The cellulose is the most important component required for textiles production.  Bamboo currently grows in 23 states of the federation and its utilization in the textiles sector has been perfected in China, India, Europe and the United states.  The production process is simple and consists mainly of cooking the bamboo leaves and the soft inner pith from hard bamboo trunk in a solution of 15 to 20% sodium hydroxide at a temperature between 20 to 25^oC for 1 to 3 hours to form alkali cellulose which is  crashed by a grinder and left to dry for 24 hours After this, carbon disulphide is added to form a viscose solution which is forced through spinneret nozzles into a diluted sulphuric acid solution form a reconstructed and regenerated bamboo fabric.  As bamboo is available in Nigeria, the utilisation of bamboo fabric will save Nigeria an excess of 500 billion naira in foreign exchange equivalent annually.

Keywords: bamboo, fibres, textile, enzymes, investment