New Sense in Nuisance - JaniPad

Number of Jani pads Units min max
W pad Weight per pad [kg/pad] 0.0020
N pad1 No. of pads per (only petioles) [no./m 2 ] 437.80 1 860.65
N pad2 No. of pads per (petioles and leaves) [no./m 2 ] 614.60 2 612.05
To find out how much of the total surface area of
water hyacinths that needs to be harvested each year
to provide pads to the Kenyan schoolgirls who cannot
afford conventional pads, the following calculations
were performed. It was estimated that during the four
days that schoolgirls miss out on school, they would
make use of approximately three pads per day.
Required no. of pads per year
T pads = 870 000 * 3 * 4 * 12
Area required to be harvested each month
A Harvest = T pads / N pad1
Percentage of area required to be harvested of the
estimated water hyacinth area in Nyanza Gulf
A = A Harvest / A Nyanza
Total surface area to harvest Units min max
Kenyan schoolgirls lacking pads each month 4 870 000
T pads Required no. of pads per year 125 280 000
A Nyanza Estimated water hyacinth area in Nyanza gulf 5 [m 2 ] 14 014 630
A Harvest Area required to be harvested each year [m 2 ] 286 158.06 67 331.31
A Percentage of water hyacinth area 0.0204185 0.0048044
1 Muzira et al (2008)
2 Bader et al (2007)
3 MDG Centre Nairobi Environmental Team and
MCI (2009)
4 Megan White (2009)
5 Jembe et al (2008)
Reality Studio 09 - New Sense in Nuisance
page 88 of 97