Kenaf in USA

In the United States, Kenaf are mostly grown in areas such as North Carolina, South Carolina, Arizona, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, Florida, New Mexico, Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana and Arkansas. However, the commercial kenaf activity in the U.S. are mainly focus in these four areas; Georgia, Texas, Mississippi and New Mexico. In Georgia for instance, there are a development of a large-scale kenaf based industrial project lead by a company called ANKAL. scientists and researchers who actively work with kenaf. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have began doing research on Kenad since 1940s. Even with limited funds given by the Government, USDA have work with several private companies to study the potential of Kenaf. One of the research are to investigate the potential for processing kenaf black liquor into binders and fertilizers. Another organization that is actively promoting Kenaf in the USA is the American Kenaf Society. The American Kenaf Society is a registered nonprofit membership organization that was chartered in 1997. Its members include nearly all the Mississippi and New Mexico.  There are also business members, and a growing number of international members. Below are video on Kenaf farming in Georgia.
 

Kenaf industry in USA

The Kenaf industry in USA is developing at slow rapid pace. This is due the facts that there is a decline in the amount of money allocated to Kenaf research by the government for reasons of budget restrictions and food security issues. However, even with the lack of finding, many researchers have done several intensive research with Kenaf. About 10,000 acres of Kenaf are grown in the year 2000 in various areas in USA. Among companies that are actively using Kenaf as their raw materials are KP Products Inc. doing business as Vision Paper, Kafus Industries, Cameco Industries Inc. Kenaf International, ANAKL, DBM Farms, and the Delta Fiber operation.