Vetiver Grass A Thin Green Line Against Erosion (1993) / Chapter Skim
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1 Worldwide Experiences
1 Worldwide Experiences
Pages 11-31
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From page 11... ...
Nonetheless, the plant's ability to control erosion is not new. Before World War II, some tropical countries deliberately planted vetiver hedges as contour barriers.
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From page 12... ...
Vincent Malawi Singapore Trinidad Mauritius Sri Lanka Virgin Islands Nigeria Thailand Rwanda Pacific Reunion Americas American Samoa Seychelles Argentina Cook Islands Somalia Brazil Fit' South Africa Colombia New Caledonia Tanzania Costa Rica New Guinea Tunisia French Tonga Uganda Guiana Western Samoa Zaire Guatemala Zambia Guyana Others Zimbabwe Honduras France Paraguay Italy Suriname Spain USA USSR aimed both at locating the grass and at roughly assessing the worldwide experiences with it. ASIA Vetiver is an Asian plant, probably native to a lowland, swampy area north of New Delhi in India.
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From page 13... ...
Among the results of this exploratory research are some from Kabbanala.4 Even in their first year, the partially formed hedges held back 30 percent more rainfall runoff than graded banks, 47 percent more than conventional contour cultivation, and 24 percent more than hedgerows of leucaena.S In addition, they held back 43 percent more soil than graded banks, 74 percent more than contour cultivation, and 54 percent more than leucaena hedges. Moreover, apparently because of the improved soil-moisture levels, the vetiver hedgerows boosted crop yields 6 percent more than those on graded banks, 26 percent more than those on contour cultivation, and 10 percent more than those behind leucaena hedgerows.
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From page 14... ...
Bringing the black cotton soils into fuller use could boost India's food production because there are millions of hectares of them. Tamil Nadu In Tamil Nadu there has been no formal governmental support thus far, but the Regional Research Station at Aruppukkotai6 began testing vetiver in 1987.
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From page 15... ...
In this part of Karnataka State, vetiver hedges are a traditional part of farming practice. Even on fairly level land, they can accumulate impressive amounts of soil behind them.
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From page 16... ...
However, its true potential for Sri Lanka lay unappreciated until 1989 when Keerthi Rajapakse, a retired Assistant Conservator of Forests, helped establish nurseries to supply Vetiver planting material to farmers. Rajapakse was elated to find that tobacco cultivators accepted this vegetative contour method with alacrity: soil washing out of hillside tobacco fields is considered to be one of Sri Lanka's major environmental problems.
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From page 17... ...
In some areas, vetiver products are already widely popular. In at least one location, prunings from the contour hedges are sold to dairy farmers as a feedstuff and are replacing rice straw as bedding for animals.
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From page 18... ...
It was probably introduced to produce vetiver oil, but it is thought that some was also brought in by a German coffee grower seeking to protect his eroding land. Recently, a government soil specialists found vetiver established on terraces in coffee country in the Machakos District as well as on a dam wall on a farm near Thika.
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From page 19... ...
Even in the heavy shade under these trees, the vetiver plants are growing well. The hedges not only reduce soil loss, they also help retain runoff moisture.
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From page 20... ...
weave their huts out of Vetiver grass or palm fronds. Nigeria Vetiver is commonly seen growing wild in Nigeria and probably this is mostly the African species, Vetiveria nigritana.
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From page 21... ...
He thereby launched what is officially called "The British Council/Anambra State Project on Erosion Control," but is more commonly known as "Project Vetiver." Thanks to the heir to the British throne, vetiver planting took off in earnest. "Prince Charles brought prestige to bear on the whole thing," noted Anthony Chigbo, secretary and project engineer of Project Vetiver.
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From page 22... ...
Other African Nations South Africa Vetiver is cultivated to a limited extent in South Africa and is used as a hedge plant, particularly in Natal where it is used mainly by Mauritian sugarcane growers and is commonly referred to as "Mauritius grass." A company formed for the purpose of putting in vetiver hedges has recently established trials throughout the country (see next chapter)
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From page 23... ...
Vetiver hedges were sometimes used to fix terraces in place on plantations of cinchona, for example.~3 Central African Republic A solitary note in the Kew Herbarium Collection reports that vetiver is used for stuffing mattresses in the Central African Republic. Rwanda For more than 30 years vetiver has been used in Rwanda's coffee plantations, apparently for protecting terraces.~4 Gabon According to one report, the grass was planted along ditches and roadsides to conserve the soil and delimit field boundaries.~5 Ghana Vetiver is a common hedge plant in Ghana.
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From page 24... ...
Here vetiver must compete with jungle regrowth, heavy grass, and vines, but it has held its own and is doing an excellent job of holding these hillsides together. These days, Trinidad's forest service is showing renewed interest in vetiver.~8 In Maracas Valley, for example, it has planted fruit trees |7 Then known as the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture, it has long been a globally renowned research center for the study of tropical crops.
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From page 25... ...
Its extreme robustness can easily be seen because it commonly occurs on the worst possible sites. Even when people are trying to produce vetiver roots commercially, they usually employ the least valuable ground, much of it so worn out that nothing else can survive.
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From page 26... ...
The oil extracted from the roots is used to make a truly Caribbean scent Khus Khus by Benjamins of Jamaica available at all fine perfume counters. The dried roots are also used to make unique souvenirs.
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From page 27... ...
Nothing specific on its use in erosion control has yet been reported, but a scientific papery reviewing vetiver in Brazil reported: It is a plant of great utility. Its numerous and tangled roots bind the surface where there is danger of breaking the earth apart; its tufts of erect, perennial leaves serve as a fence, protecting crops against wind and dust storms.
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From page 28... ...
. There was also a small industry producing vetiver oil.
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From page 29... ...
The plant was also grown along the Gulf Coast as well as in southern California before World War II. Recently in Louisiana, exploratory trials using the plant as an erosion barrier have shown remarkable promise (see next chapter)
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From page 30... ...
to plow on the contour. That not only fosters soil conservation, it also increases the amount of moisture available to the crop plants throughout the field.
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From page 31... ...
Vetiver was introduced to the south of France as a potential source of ingredients for the perfume industry of Grasse, on the Cole d'Azur.29 It still exists there and survives the Mediterranean winter. Recently, it has been tested as a barrier against soil loss, both there and on the slopes of the Massif Central.30 28 Information from D.E.K.
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