It now emerges that apart from its negative side, the water hyacinth choking a large part if the Lake Victoria is a great source of fuel.
Consequently, some fish mongers from Kisumu living in areas bordering the lake are using the weed to substitute the expensive wood used to fry fresh fish from the lake.
According to Eunice Anyango, a fishmonger at Dunga beach in Kisumu, they are now shifting to fermented hyacinth which she says is cheaper and produces less smoke.
“This method has no heat or smoke unlike when using firewood. Once you are connected to the source, you are good to go. We are fast embracing it and hope that soon none of us will be using firewood,” she told the Standard.
Anyango, one of the 30 fishmongers at the beach said that she uses about 30 shillings per a piece of wood, amounting to Ksh1200 per day, a total Ksh40, 000 a day at the beach.
The project has been introduced by Biogas International Limited which has also encouraged the use of fish waste as a source of energy for similar purposes and home use.
According to the firm CEO Dominic Kahumba, the firm provides women in the area with jikos serving that purpose at a cheap price in a bid to offer alternatives for expensive fuel.
“We are currently giving it for free to the women, but once we roll out fully we will install cookers for each of the traders at a small cost, probably less than half of what they have been paying daily for firewood,” he told the paper.
This comes at a time when the government has also declared war on the bod and dispatched a dredger to combat it.