ICRISAT has received its first industrial design patent in India for a solar-powered water hyacinth harvester developed by its team of scientists. This innovative, cost-effective solution is designed to tackle water hyacinth infestations in rural ponds, providing an efficient and environmentally friendly approach to managing the invasive plant.
Affordable Solution for Rural Communities
The harvester, designed and fabricated in-house at ICRISAT, provides an affordable option for rural farming communities. Priced at under INR200,000, it offers a cost-effective alternative to sophisticated machinery that can cost up to 10 times more. The device is designed to be easily operated by semi-skilled or unskilled personnel, and it helps reduce costs, time, and labor by 50–60%, all while utilizing clean, solar-powered energy.
Addressing the Challenges of Water Hyacinth Infestations
Water hyacinth infestations are a major problem in rural ponds, disrupting local ecosystems, harming fisheries, and blocking canals. The plant’s rapid growth and long-lasting seeds make it particularly difficult to control. Just 8–10 water hyacinth plants can spread to over 600,000 plants in just 6–8 months, making effective management a constant challenge. Chemical and biological methods of removal have proven expensive and often only effective in the short term, leading to the need for periodic harvesting, either manually or mechanically.
Environmental Commitment and Support
Dr. Stanford Blade, Director General-Interim of ICRISAT, expressed his support for the new harvester.
“Water hyacinth infestation is a global environmental challenge. This cost-effective harvester reflects ICRISAT’s dedication to creating environment-friendly solutions tailored to the needs of rural communities that are also technologically and economically sustainable.”
A Collaborative Project for Sustainable Solutions
The harvester was developed as part of the project “Sustainable Valorisation of Water Hyacinth Biomass through Aerobic Composting as a Rural Enterprise—A Waste to Wealth Initiative.” This initiative is supported by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment, Government of Odisha, India.
ICRISAT’s experiments with the harvester have shown that up to 72,000 kg of water hyacinth biomass can be harvested mechanically from a 3-acre (1.2-hectare) pond in just 2–3 days with a team of two or three people. In comparison, manual harvesting requires 10–20 laborers and takes 18–20 days to complete. This demonstrates the substantial efficiency benefits of the mechanical harvester.
Economic and Social Impact through Local Processing
The high moisture content of the water hyacinth biomass means that decentralized processing is necessary. Dr. Arabinda Kumar Padhee, Principal Secretary of the Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment in Odisha, highlighted the role local stakeholders, particularly women self-help groups (SHGs), can play in turning the harvested biomass into valuable products. These could include compost, fish feed, or handmade paper, providing alternative livelihoods and boosting inland fisheries. This approach would have substantial socio-economic and environmental impacts on the local communities.
The Team Behind the Harvester
Dr. Aviraj Datta, the principal investigator of the project, led the development of the harvester with support from ICRISAT staff members, including Dr. Mangi Lal Jat, Dr. Ramesh Singh, Mr. Hari Om Singh, Mr. Santhosh Kumar Raja, Mr. Yogesh Kumar, and Mr. Jinith Mahajhan.
The ICRISAT Intellectual Property (IP) office played a crucial role in facilitating the evaluation and filing of the design application with the Design Registry, India, ensuring that due diligence was observed throughout the process.