Socioeconomic effects of water hyacinth (Echhornia Crassipes) in Lake Tana, North Western Ethiopia

Water hyacinth has been progressively advanced in Lake Tana since 2011 and covered vast areas of the lakeshore. The aim of this study was to assess how the lakeshore covered by the weed mats affected the socioeconomic of the local community. The study was based on a survey of 405 households, 8 group discussions and interviews of 15 key informants conducted from January to March 2018. The results revealed that crop production, livestock feed supply, water supply, fishing, the health of local people and livestock were impacted negatively by the infestation of water hyacinth. The range of socioeconomic problems caused by the weed generally implied the real impacts on the lives of local communities and national economic development. The efforts made to control water hyacinth has costed huge labor and financial resources. The results revealed that close to 800,000 human labor dedicated to manual removal of the weed from 2012 to 2018 and above one million USD spent for procurement of harvester machines and bioagent experiments. In spite of the devotion of huge labor and spending of a lot of money, the expansion of the weed has not controlled. Poor coordination of controlling efforts, dumping of harvested dense mats of the weed in the lakeshore, lack of genuine participation of the local people are principal factors for the failure of the controlling efforts A coordination of various stakeholders thus is needed to make eradicating methods more effective. Other alternative options should also be considered to control the weed expansion.