The Tamil Nadu government has assigned a ₹400-crore research project for manufacturing textiles and medicine from banana fibre and stem to a private company, according to state chief minister K Palaniswami. Once the project is successful, the income of banana-growers would double, he said. Aerospace scientist Mylswamy Annadurai is assisting the project.

He was recently addressing an election campaign gathering in Mettupalayam, a major banana cultivation area in the Coimbatore district, according to media reports from the state.

Annadurai, a former director of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), had described the utility of the fibre in making dhotis and shirts, and the stem to make medicines.

Banana is also a major crop in Thottiam, Musiri and Lalgudi in Trichy district where it is cultivated on 25,000 acres next to paddy, pulses and oilseeds.