How the 'harmful' water hyacinth is creating employment for thousands of women
Many handcrafts factories have emerged in Kishoreganj and Narsingdi upazilas – each of which employs hundreds of women who work from home, making products with water hyacinth and seagrass
You have to walk a fair amount of distance along the earthen road in Nalbaid village, in Kuliarchar Upazila of Kishoreganj, to reach Rubina's home.
There are fields of various winter crops like spinach, spring onion, coriander, beans etc along the village path. Some fields also have Napier grass sprouting as it is in high demand as animal feed.
And some distance away, there was a group of milky white egrets. Although it was a foggy morning, the long-legged birds standing motionless in a single line, like poles, were clearly visible. They looked like a painting you could touch.
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By the time we reached Rubina's home, she had already gone to school.
Rubina is a 10th-grade student at a school in the Faripur union. We were visiting her house to see her make different sorts of baskets with water hyacinths.
In her absence, her father, Jasim Uddin, showed us his daughter's tools, such as a variety of thin wire frames for making baskets, ropes made of dried water hyacinth etc.
Jasim is happy with his daughter's work, and her contribution to the family. "She does all these besides her studies," the beaming father told us.
We spoke to Rubina after she returned home from school.
"I have been making crafts with water hyacinth for some time. Many of my friends are doing the same. Around six to seven women in my family also make hyacinth crafts," she said, "making a set of baskets [three baskets make a set] takes two to three hours, depending on the size. I get Tk100 to Tk150 for each set."
Rubina further added, "It feels absolutely great to earn and contribute to the family."
Rubina is one of the thousands of school-going girls and housewives in Kishoreganj's Kuliarchar and Narsingdi's Belabo upazila who have made a career out of making various baskets and handicrafts with water hyacinth, hogla (seagrass) and jute.
This means a school goer or a housewife who previously had no way to contribute to the family's household income in remote villages can do so by working from home.
Many handcrafts factories have emerged in these two upazilas, each of which employs hundreds of women to make various products with water hyacinth and hogla.
Water hyacinth, the cash crop
Entrepreneur Jakir Hossain from Faripur Union in Kuliarchar upazila, owner of one such factory called Bismillah Handicrafts, explained how water hyacinth products entered the market.
Water hyacinth, except for its role as fertilizer, is generally regarded as harmful for its thick and dense layers, which damage lakes and rivers. Also, the life of other aquatic plants and animals is jeopardised by the rapid growth of water hyacinth, as it decreases water flow and leads to oxygen depletion.
But entrepreneurs like Jakir in Kishoreganj and Narsingdi have turned this harmful plant into a cash crop.
When we went to interview him, we found more than 40 mounds of dried water hyacinths stored in his factory. Soon, these will be used to manufacture hyacinth products.
Jakir said that the water hyacinth entered the market, with full force, after 2020.
"As we get the hyacinth in abundance in our locality, unlike Hogla leaves that we bring from Noakhali and Barishal, it was easier to work on," Jakir said, "it is not like it's the first time that we learned about water hyacinth products. We learned it a long time ago. But it was not popular in the market before."
Jakir said that these products - both hyacinth and hogla-made products - do not have significant demand in the local markets.
"It became a livelihood for us when agent companies from Dhaka drew in international buyers. Only then did the work with water hyacinth become widespread," he said.
Jakir also shared that his products were recently displayed in a German exhibition, through one of his buyers in Dhaka.
Weavers Bangladesh is one of the companies that export handmade products to western countries. "We send products to different European countries like Germany, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and also the United States," said Shafiqur Rahman, CEO of Weavers Bangladesh.
His company has around 22 years of experience in exporting seagrass baskets, Kaisha grass baskets, date palm leaf baskets, jute baskets, etc. And when did you start exporting water hyacinth products? "It has been around eight years," Shafiqur replied.
Water hyacinth crafts, an expensive purchase
Water hyacinth grows in rivers, swamps, or any shallow or deep water bodies. When the water recedes from land, they remain. People in these areas of Kishoreganj and Narsingdi collect them, then dry them and sell them to entrepreneurs like Jakir.
The factory owners also collect hyacinths from different water bodies themselves.
"A mound of water hyacinth cost around Tk1,500 to Tk2,200, depending on size and colour. Also, when they are short in the market, their prices go up automatically. But when found in abundance, they roughly cost around Tk1,500 per mound," Jakir said.
The products made from water hyacinth and hogla come in different shapes and forms, depending on the buyers' requisition and designs.
"Our baskets come in shapes like round cylinders, square cylinders, U-shapes, oval cylinders, round baskets, round pots, square pots etc. We make placemats, square mats, square boxes etc as well," Jakir said.
In comparison to holga leaves, water hyacinth products are still fewer in number and demand. And that has a connection to hyacinth-made products being expensive.
"Even a small product made from water hyacinth is worth Tk120. The product cost is high because making even a small product may take up to 600-gram of water hyacinth," Jakir said. "Also, the workers have to be paid more, up to Tk50, for water hyacinth products."
The ropes made of water hyacinth are smaller than hogla, and as a result, it requires more effort and hence more charge for workers.
"I have employed over 200 women and some men in our areas. It is a comparatively easier job to do. Most women who work with us can earn up to Tk3,000 to Tk3,500 each month easily, working from home," he said.
"In total, I would say over 5,000 women are working in making hogla, water hyacinth and jute products in several unions in our area [Faridpur Union]," Jakir added.
And how much do you make annually from sales? "Around Tk60 lakh to Tk70 lakh a year," Jakir replied.
Another entrepreneur named Alauddin in Char Kashim Nagar said that he makes sales of Tk80 lakh to Tk90 lakh in a calendar year. He employed more than 300 women in the village.
How the women are emerging as earners in the family
Behind Alauddin Handicrafts lives Nargis Begum, a woman who found that the at-home employment opportunity created by the water hyacinth and hogla craft factories has reshaped her life.
Nargis has been working in crafts production for over four years. She started working when her sweetmaker husband, Ismail, became ill; surviving a heart attack around five years ago. Ismail could no longer work.
"I have been managing the livelihood of my family ever since my husband fell ill. I have been doing household chores and earning money at the same time," Nargis said when we interrupted her at work in her home.
"I feel safe and secure. My elder son couldn't carry on with his studies due to our unique situation. Now he [elder son] has started a small grocery store in our village. And I work at home.
"I can earn Tk4,000 to Tk5,000 besides managing my household. I want to raise my younger child to be an educated person," Nargis added.
Close to Nargis was Husna Begum, sitting and participating in the discussion. She is also employed in the local hyacinth and hogla products industry. "Almost every woman in our village is employed. You could say over a thousand women, only in this village, make these products, besides managing their housework."
When did this trend of working from home making water hyacinth products begin? "It started around five years ago when these factories emerged in our localities. Gradually, no women remained unemployed," Husna replied, "I cannot express how good it feels to earn money. I feel stronger than ever."
This was the time, according to Jakir, when workers from different industries in Dhaka returned to their villages and set up their own factories.
The number is 'above 30,000'
Amir Hossain of Ilma Shilpaloy and Handicrafts in Belabo Upazila, Narsingi, said that they work as subcontractors for different handicraft companies from Dhaka.
"We mainly develop jute products in our factory. But we provide water hyacinth and hogla products to companies from this area as well," Amir said, adding, "This year, orders are fewer because of a general slump in business."
"Just in Belabo, over 30,000 to 40,000 men and [mostly] women are employed in making water hyacinth, hogla, and jute products," Amir said.
However, we couldn't independently verify the number.
We met Mariam, a college student, from Char Kashim Nagar, working at the Ilma factory. She said she has been working for over two years.
"It feels good that I can manage my own education expenses and contribute to my family's income," Mariam said, who has a sister and two parents in her household.
Kulsum Begum from Jahirakanda village of Binnabari Union sitting beside her interrupted, "There is no work that we cannot do. We are not unemployed by the grace of Allah."
The local people in Belabo and Kuliarchar call water hyacinth Jarmuni.
When we were returning from Rubina's home through Nolbaid's earthen road, our rickshaw puller and local guide Ameer, a man who loves to talk almost non-stop, said, "These Jarmunis ruin our crops. They are everywhere in our area. Say water or fields, you get Jarmunis all over the place. It is good that these people found a usage for this."
On the distant field, the milky white egrets were still standing like poles; Ameer said, they were there to feed on the snails.
