Piyasena Kodikara, a villager from the deep south, Ransegoda Matara and inventor of Banana Fibre Stripping Machine, displaying some of his handmade export quality ladies hand bags, and travelling bags using these fibres, at an exhibition this week organised by the Sri Lanka Investors’ Commission.

The machine invented by him can be operated manually or by using an electric motor to take out banana fibres from the trunk of the banana tree. Pic by J Weerasekera