The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has come up with a very interesting solution to deal with the problem of a weed named water hyacinth and transform this ‘waste’ into wealth.
ICRISAT scientists are working towards developing digital tools and techniques to monitor the weed by using satellite data and thus, facilitating efficient utilisation of water hyacinth biomass.
The scope of digital intervention to utilise the floating weed became evident during the Odisha Livelihood Mission project. This led to the harvesting of water hyacinth plants and the biomass produced was used to make high-quality compost by mixing it with paddy straw and cow dung. This simple technique helped local women become self-reliant by turning simple waste into wealth.
