The Development of Wicker Products from Gros Michel Banana Fibers with Natural Dyes for Promote Career Among the Elderly

The objectives of this research and development were to develop wicker products from Gros Michel banana fibers with natural dyes and to test the acceptance of the target consumer groups toward the products. The sample groups consisted of three types of the product prototype, 15 community representatives for selecting the draft products, three experts for product assessment, and 400 target consumers for product testing. The research instruments comprised a product prototype assessment and a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data for mean and standard deviation. The research results revealed that the fibers can be used to produce the product prototypes and small-sized fibers yield bright and durable colors after dyeing. For the development of the prototypes, about 15 to 20 fibers are twisted and braided to produce a suitable band. The designs of the three prototypes are based on the traditional ones. When the prototypes were evaluated by the experts, the total mean was 4.30, which was at a high level. The acceptance testing results of the target consumers were at the highest level. This is because the products were based on the local wisdom and environmentally friendly as a green product. Therefore, they should be promoted to create more jobs among the elderly as well as interested community members in order to establish community and socio-economic empowerment.