Mananasi Fibre: Complete pineapple waste solutions including decortication for textile production

Last updated on 8 April 2026

Background Information

Pineapple plantations in Kenya make use of a 3.5-year rotation period at the end of which, after the final harvest, the plants are knocked to the ground, dried and burnt to make way for the next season’s pineapple crops. This process presents numerous environmental and human health impacts as well as sub-optimal crop rotation efficiencies. Buring releases harmful pollutants and carbon emissions while damaging soil fertility and delaying replanting. At Del Monte Kenya’s 40 km² estate in Thika alone, this can represent ~40,000 tonnes of biomass burned annually, emitting over 52,000 tonnes of CO₂ into the atmosphere and impacting nearby communities.

On the farm headquarters in Thika, Mananasi Fibre Ltd, in partnership with The Chequered Flag, is pioneering a circular solution that intercepts this waste before it is burned and transforms it into high-value textile fibres, livestock feed (silage), and soil-restoring organic inputs (compost and biochar). The project also received funding from the UK government’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to trial the production of biochar from pineapple stems.

Decortication of pineapple leaf is a relatively new technology in Kenya. This pilot demonstrates a pathway to providing a waste management solution for pineapple producers supporting sustainable pineapple production, stronger rural economies, and meaningful climate action. The pilot offers a long-term and sustainable solution to address the challenges associated with pineapple farming, creating new revenue streams, while reducing environmental and human health impacts, and increasing economic circularity.

Photo credit: The Chequered Flag

Updates

The project has successfully shown a business case for creating value out of waste from pineapple plants by producing textile grade fibres from pineapple plant leaves and additional supplementary products. Del Monte has formalised its commitment to continue with the project, taking full ownership of scaling the project through the purchase of Mananasi Fibre Ltd. Del Monte’s investment in Mananasi has played a critical role in the continuity and growth of the pilot to establish to a fully-fledged business operation.

Business development and product streams:
Over 100 tonnes of textile grade fibre from more than 3,300 tonnes of pineapple leaf waste has been collected from the Del Monte pineapple fields. The residual pulp has been used to produce over 800 tonnes of compost. Fibre consignments were successfully shipped to Vietnam, and China. The project continues to explore markets for the natural fibre in Bangladesh, China, Japan, Vietnam, Europe and USA.

Preparations are being made to take a step further in adding value to the fibre locally, through cottonisation. To support this, preparations are being made to put in place machines for degumming the fibre to meet textile standards like Oeko Tex 100 standards for garments. Meeting such standards increases market prospects.

The project expanded its product in addition to the fibre offering to include:

animal feed – silage – produced from the pulp generated during the pineapple leaf decortication, blended with molasses. So far 75 tonnes of silage has been produced. Trials are currently ongoing with goats and dairy cows. Laboratory analyses of the silage have also been conducted to understand its nutritional value.
twine and rope produced from pineapple fibre. These were tested in the making of furniture made from recycled plastic and for rigging dhows in Lamu. This was done in collaboration with Flipflopi, another SMEP project, making furniture and dhows from recycled plastic.
biochar production was trialled over a 6-month period. The biochar was used for treating wastewater from the pineapple decortication, for reuse and improving the quality of wastewater released in the environment. Although the production of biochar from pineapple stems was technically viable, it was not financially viable for the project context.
Artisan crafts – baskets and mats – were produced in the first months of the pilot, however this during the transition of the business after its acquisition by Del Monte.

Technology developments:
A unique aspect of the project was the design and fabrication of (four) pineapple plant leaf decortication machines, fibre brushing machines, and six Kon-tiki kilns for biochar production, by a team of young local artisans, employed by the project. This is not only beneficial to optimising performance and maintenance. It is beneficial to developing local skills for machine fabrication. Additional Kon-tiki kilns are being built to expand production at the site.

The application of the pineapple leaf decortication technology was successfully tested with pineapple stems and banana stems. Industrial machines for banana stem decortication are currently being built on the back of this. The fibres produced from the pineapple plant stem have application potential similar to coconut coir. Initial conversations with Coco360 (The FRESHPPACT Project, funded by SMEP) have been undertaken to investigate the use of these fibres in the production of mulch. There has been interest from the East Africa region and beyond, in the adoption of the decortication technology developed through the pilot.

The project is optimising it’s production line for silage production including additions of a dewatering press, and a rotary sieve. There are plans to design and fabricate a mobile harvester, which can be used for large scale harvesting and would be relevant were local labour is limited.

Technology for value addition process like cottonisation and degumming, silage is being sourced from Europe and Asia.

GHG Emissions Reduction and operations:

Between 2023 and 2024, the project reached 46 tCO₂e reduction and is on track to achieve a reduction of 335-339 tCO₂e between 2024 and 2025.
The project site has incorporated the use of renewable energy through the installation of solar; as well as the installation of a rainwater harvesting system.

Knowledge outputs:
A baseline case study report has been published providing the results of the gender and social inclusion assessments and lifecycle assessment. End of project assessments are currently underway and will be published soon.

An Interactive Business Model in the form of an interactive Excel tool was developed, intended for use by external parties for commercial viability analysis, model testing as well as assessing the potential for scaling. This tool allows for context-specific assumptions, such as energy costs, labour costs, volumes, scale, and pricing, which have been developed based on farm visits and data collection. The tool is being updated to include aspects that were added to the business approach.

The results and findings from the pilot have been shared at various events local and global events e.g., UNEA 7, World Circular Economy Forum, Kenya British High Commission events, Marine-based Products and Services Expo.

Gender, Equity and Social inclusion:
Concerted effort has been taken to practise inclusive recruitment, promote decent and applying unconventional approaches to managing it’s human resources and talent, despite the various common challenges associated with startup businesses. The project continues making improvements to its practices. This has had a positive impact on employee wellbeing, and the performance of the business.

Over 85 job (stable) opportunities were created, most of which are occupied by youth and women. Extra care is taken to ensure occupational health and safety through training; facilitated feedback approached like committees and body mapping; medical assessments; warning signs; routine inspection and maintenance of machinery; provision of protective clothing, transport, subsidised meals, clean water and sanitation.

A weaving workshop was setup to create income opportunities for women and disabled persons. The weaving workshop has been temporarily closed during transition of the acquisition of the project by DelMonte, however, the staff were reassigned to other roles in the project. The project has partnered with TexFad (a partner on the Banatex-EA project funded by SMEP in Uganda), to provide training at the weaving workshop.

The project is committed to supporting local business by making use of local vendors, were possible women led business. In addition local farmers have been involved in biochar and silage trials.

Below is summary of the projects GESI achievements: