Water hyacinth, also known as Pani Meteka, is an aquatic weed found abundantly in the water bodies of Assam. For a long time, water hyacinth was considered waste, but the Assam State Rural Livelihood Mission (ASRLM) started a project to make useful crafts out of it. The project started with 600 people from 6 clusters across Assam. Later, 6 common facility centres were set up, and production began in 2018.

Water hyacinth crafts developed quite recently. In 2008, the North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Limited (NEDFi) started promoting the use of water hyacinth to make crafts and encourage sustainable livelihoods in the region. Water hyacinth produces more than 200 tons of dry matter per hectare each year, so it can be used to make useful and decorative items like baskets, mats, laptop bags, and tiffin bags.

First, the water hyacinth stems are dried. Then, the fibres are flattened with a machine. The flattened fibres are then used to weave eco-friendly products. The fibre can be woven by hand or on machine looms. The naturally colourless products are then coloured with natural dyes.

In 2019, water hyacinth crafts were displayed at the ‘India Garment Fair & India Home Furnishing Fair’, a trade fair in Osaka, Japan. Today, over 85% of the artisans who make water hyacinth crafts in North-East India are women. The states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, and Tripura also make water hyacinth crafts, but on a smaller scale.

Any information on this page is anecdotal and based on publicly available details. If you're interested in learning more, click here.