| Water Hyacinth (kachuripana)
a tropical, floating luxurious aquatic plant, Eichornia crassipes,
of Latin American origin; grows prolifically, and often hinders
the passage of boats by blanketing the surface of the water. The plant
is a free-floating herb that sends down a large bunch of long fibrous
roots from a leafy main stem. The petiole of the leaf is short and spongy.
The leaf blade is broadly ovate or rhomboid, and is broadly obtuse at
the apex.
Inflorescence is peduncled, about 15-20 cm, having 10-20 showy
flowers. In Bangladesh the plant is familiar as a noxious weed
and grows in almost all stagnant waterbodies. During the monsoon
it multiplies rapidly and spreads quickly in newly inundated flood
lands. It flowers during October-January.
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Water hyacinth |
It is said that a tourist, attracted by the orchid-like
flower of the water hyacinth, introduced it to Bengal from Brazil sometime
in the latter part of the 19th century. Its rank growth proved to be so
fast and monstrous that by the 1920s all the waterbodies of Bengal had
become clotted with this aquatic plant. River navigation was obstructed,
cultivation of wetland crops including deepwater aman paddy and
jute, became difficult, and consequently the economy of Bengal showed
marks of stagnation.
Under the circumstances, the relevant laws of the government,
such as the Bengal Waterways Act, Bengal Municipal Act, Bengal Local Self-government
Act and Bengal Village Self-government Act, were geared up to fight the
scourge, but to little effect. Finally, the government decided to eradicate
the water hyacinth by organised voluntary labour. The Water-hyacinth Act
(1936) was enacted prohibiting all householders from keeping or tolerating
water hyacinth on their holdings and premises and making cooperation with
government sponsored clearing drives a public duty. District collectors
of affected zones were directed to organise water-hyacinth destruction
programmes and make such programmes a success mainly with voluntary labour.
The publicly sponsored clearance drives received an enthusiastic
response from the people. Election (1937) manifestos of all major political
parties promised to eradicate the water hyacinth. The eradication drive
was further intensified after elected representatives assumed power in
1937 under the leadership of AK Fazlul Huq.
There are some additional reasons for the success of
the water-hyacinth eradication programme. Heaps of water hyacinth, when
decayed, make wonderful fertiliser for cropping. Moreover, some crops
and vegetables grew luxuriously on the dressed water hyacinth heaps. This
has attracted many landless peasants to accumulate and heap water hyacinth
to make floating fields for agricultural production.
By 1947 the scourge of the water hyacinth came under
control and in the next decade the rivers of East Bengal became more or
less navigable again. Water hyacinth still exists in many parts of Bangladesh,
particularly in the haors and beels, but these do not pose any serious
problem to navigation or to cultivation any more. The plant is chiefly
used as manure; the leaf is used as fodder in floodplains when fodder
is scarce.
[Mostafa Kamal Pasha] |
