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| Forest of green: fast-growing hemp field/plantation, Côtes-d'Armor, Bretagne, France. Labyrinthe de chanvre au château de la Roche-Jagu (wiki) |
Hemp.
Ganja, Cannabis, illegal, Bob Marley, adolescence. That is the image of pot in the West. But many people involved in Buddhist and Hindu Nepal’s natural fibers industry know, this word has a much better image. It is the basis of a thriving
textile industry, which is playing a significant role in boosting Nepal’s economy.
In a nation with few natural, export-quality resources and many unemployed people (as part of the design of any industrialized society), particularly in villages where no practical source of outside income exists, hemp and other natural fibers are becoming big.
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| Longer fibers make stronger strands of yarn |
But the use of hemp for textiles is far from new. Humans have been cultivating hemp
longer than any other textile fiber.
Its recorded textile use dates back to 8000 BCE when its long fibers were woven into fabric, eventually providing 80% of the world’s textiles. By 2,700 BCE hemp as a fabric and a medicinal herb were incorporated into a majority of the cultures in what we now call the Middle East, Asia Minor, India, China, Japan, and Africa.
Within the next thousand years, hemp grew to be the world’s largest agricultural crop. It was the basis of many important industries -- fiber for textiles and ropes, lamp oil, paper, medicine, and food for humans and domesticated animals.
All of this should come as no surprise considering the fact that hemp is the longest and strongest plant fiber, twice as strong as cotton. Because it is extremely abrasion and rot resistant, it became the primary source for canvas, boat sails, rope, as well as clothing, military uniforms, shoes, and baggage until inferior and dangerous man-made petrochemical fabrics (e.g., polyester) were sold to the world as a replacement. It fell out of popularity in the west as man-made materials...
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