The Sisal plant is traditionally used for making twine and rope, carpets, buffing cloth, mattresses, handicrafts, wire rope cores (e.g. in elevators) and more recently as an environmentally friendly padding in the dashboards and doors of Mercedes Benz cars.

 

Sisal has been an important export of Kenya for nearly 100 years. At it's peak in the 1960's there were 54 sisal estates in Kenya; today only 7 remain, and if this rate carries on like this soon enough there will not be any left. Many sisal plots/plantations are being sold for housing development and for other cash crops with higher profit yields.

As a result of tough competition with synthetic alternatives, such as nylon and natural fibers such as hemp, there has been a dramatic decline in global demand making sisal a `dying´ trade.

 

Looking into the human aspect of this trade could help us see the lives of the many hundred´s of workers in a `dying´ trade.

However, having said this, there is a huge un-explored potential due to it´s environmental benefits. The generation of electricity from sisal waste (around 95%) would provide cheap environmentally friendly energy source by converting this waste into BIOGAS, used for soil fertility as BIOFERTILIZER, which would cut down the use of artificial fertilizers contributing to a healthier environment. 

 

There is the need to emphasize the significance and benefits of sisal as a sustainable, renewable resource both for its cordage, woven and pharmaceutical products as well as the importance of raising awareness for the need to re-substitute synthetic products in favour of eco-friendly ones.

 

This was all shot at the Kilifi Plantations in the North Coast of Kenya.