Reprinted from NC State News
Wrapping yam seeds in biodegradable paper made from a mixture of unusable parts of banana plants and recycled cardboard boxes sharply increased yam size and yields in field tests conducted in Benin, Africa.
Reported in Nature Food, a North Carolina State University study shows the paper made from banana fibers and cardboard helped yam seeds planted inside the paper – with and without miniscule amounts of a pest-killing chemical called abamectin – grow larger and more abundantly than yams planted by traditional methods without the paper.