World Environment Day: Making Waste Weeds Profitable, an AI-Based tool from ICRISAT
Media Release, ICRISAT 4th June 2022
- - Rural Women in Odisha, India become self-reliant, converting simple waste into wealth by producing high-quality compost using Water Hyacinth biomass.
- - ICRISAT scientists are developing tools based on drones, apps, and satellite data to capture data to monitor large-scale Water Hyacinth infestation.
- - "The combination of the known science of composting and cutting-edge AI-based tools aims to turn the global challenge into an opportunity," said Dr Sreenath Dixit, Global Research Program Director, Resilient Farm and Food Systems, ICRISAT.
- - Digital tools can enhance preparedness to develop a financially viable business model for a large-scale processing unit based on weed mining.
Hyderabad, India: The World Environment Day 2022 calls for living sustainably in harmony with nature, where efficient use of resources leads to development. At the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), researchers have taken this as a challenge and come up with many solutions. One interesting solution is the potential of the proliferating weed named Water Hyacinth and how this waste can be transformed into wealth. ICRISAT scientists are working towards developing digital tools and techniques to monitor this weed using satellite data thus, facilitating efficient utilization of Water Hyacinth biomass.
The scope of digital intervention to utilize 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 to become self-reliant by turning simple waste into wealth.
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