China Dialogue reported on the use of water hyacinth as the foundation - literally - of hydroponic farming in Bangladesh . The innovative food gardening technique was developed to cope with increasing and unpredictable rain events. It is also used as a food security measure. I emailed a forester-botanist friend in Bangladesh asking if she had heard of hyacinth farming. She wrote back noting that the technique is known as "doob chash" (trans: "float farm"), was developed by "the people themselves," has been practiced "for at least ten years," and helps to eliminate an invasive plant (water hyacinth). Source: "Introduction of floating gardening in the north-eastern wetlands of Bangladesh for nutritional security and sustainable livelihood," by Haseeb Md. Irfanullah1, Ahana Adrika1, Abdul Ghani, Zakir Ahmed Khan, and Md. Abdur Rashid, published in Renewable Agriculture and Food System. The photograph is courtesy of Haseeb Md. Irfanul