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At Bozaltoli village in Assam’s Tinsukia district, Smriti Rekha Chetia and her husband remove water hyacinth, the weed which chokes aquatic bodies, from a nearby pond between October and December every year. The de-weeding not only helps keep the pond alive with fishes but also generates income for Smriti. She dries hyacinth stems, flattens the fibre with a machine and uses it to weave ecofriendly baskets, containers, vases, dining mats, coasters, bags and other products, which have found a global market.
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Aquatic Weed Water Hyacinth Gives Rise To Ecofriendly Handicrafts Industry In The North-east
Women constitute over 85 percent of the artisans involved in hyacinth weaving, which is creating sustainable livelihoods in rural areas and giving a new lease of life to water bodies.
How Hyacinth Weaving Took Roots
Many Artisans Have Turned Entrepreneurs And Are Exporting Their Products Directly. We Too Buy From Them And Have Sent Consignments To Spain And The US As Well,” Das Adds.
The Process Of Water Hyacinth Weaving
Hyacinth stems of 24 to 30 inches are preferred for use in weaving.
We sell a six-piece set of dining mats for Rs 800 to wholesalers, who in turn sell it for Rs 1,000 to Rs 1200. About 4 kg of fibre is used to prepare one set,” Smriti says.
The Process Of Weaving Two Different Types Of Hyacinth Fibre Baskets.
Over the last decade, the hyacinth products have gained such wide recognition that people from other states and countries are now visiting NEDFi Craft Incubation Centre at Khetri to learn the craft.
“We have people coming from Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, AndhraPradesh, Haryana and even Bangladesh, Nigeria and Sudan amongother countries for training. Our products are at par with the bestglobally,” Das says.
And it is showing clearly in the rising number of people opting for thecraft as well as the increase in incomes.
(Rashmi Pratap is a Mumbai-based journalist specialising in financial, business and socio-economic reporting)
