Kerala has come up with a sustainable model to tackle the water hyacinth menace that countries around the world have struggled to eliminate. A project to convert water hyacinth into value-added products is being launched as a special course with the support of the Union Environment Ministry. In Kerala, the course will be launched on Wednesday at the Malabar Botanical Garden and Institute for Plant Sciences in Kozhikode.

The course is titled Water Hyacinth (Value-added Products) Entrepreneur. A key feature of the project is that local people can earn income through the production of various products made from water hyacinth. In certain applications, parts of the plant other than the root can be used as an alternative to plastic.

The project is based on the idea of Prof. G. Nagendra Prabhu, who has been conducting research in this field for 30 years. The initiative was developed by a team comprising Prabhu and research scholar V. Anoop Kumar.

Dr Nagendra Prabhu, who retired as head of the Zoology Department at SD College, Alappuzha, is currently the scientific adviser to the Future Kerala Mission at Jain University, Kochi.

The course, approved by the Union Environment Ministry, includes 390 hours of theory, practical training sessions, visits to related workplaces and hands-on training. It is a Level 4 course under the Ministry of Skill Development.