Vetiver Grass A Thin Green Line Against Erosion (1993) / Chapter Skim
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6 Next Steps
6 Next Steps
Pages 84-93
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From page 84... ...
In this chapter we identify some of the important, as well as some of the interesting and challenging, actions that could be taken to help vetiver progress in an orderly, responsible, and yet rapid manner. CONTINUATION OF WORLD BANK EFFORTS As discussed earlier, it has been World Bank agriculturists who have reintroduced the vetiver method of erosion control.
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From page 85... ...
One professor, some part-time help from graduate students, and support from eager volunteers in a dozen nations was all that was needed to get leucaena and other nitrogen-fixing trees established as prime reforestation candidates throughout the tropics. Another excellent model is the International Ferrocement Information Center, located at the Asian Institute of Technology near Bangkok, Thailand.
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From page 86... ...
Indeed, although huge plantings would be required, government authorities might find the expense and effort far outweighed by the financial benefits of extending the useful life of multimillion-dollar water projects, not to mention the protection of wetlands, coral reefs, and other vital economic environments. The advantage of the vetiver system is the fact that it is applicable on a wide scale with little equipment, planning, or logistics.
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From page 87... ...
Vetiver, therefore, could be a key to success in many of the different sustainableagriculture systems under development for Third World conditions. This and other vegetative systems of erosion control should provide long-term stability and, if combined with good crop-rotation practices, such as the use of green manures and organic mulches, could lead to stable sustainable farming that might even render slash-and-burn cultivation obsolete in many places.
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From page 88... ...
BASIC RESEARCH Although vetiver has been grown in scores of countries for decades or even centuries, not a lot is known about the plant itself. Studies should be undertaken of topics such as plant morphology, physiology, ecology, and cold tolerance.
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From page 89... ...
· Mycorrhizae. Are vetiver roots colonized by the beneficial fungi called "mycorrhizae"?
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From page 90... ...
For example, how might vetiver hedges be fitted into alley cropping, slash-and-burn, terrace farming, horticulture, rice paddies, large-scale mechanized agriculture, and other types of farming? RESTORING DEGRADED SITES Degraded lands are so prevalent and so vast in the tropics and subtropics that to restore even a fraction of them may seem impossible.
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From page 91... ...
This is an unconventional notion, of course, but it just might be a way to get productive farming into areas so arid that people now consider the production of any food or tree crops impossible. Warding Off Weeds As mentioned earlier, vetiver is reputed to be a barrier to grassy stoloniferous weeds.
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From page 92... ...
This may not be a wholly reliable method of fire prevention, but many fires in rural Third World areas creep along the ground through the dry grasses. It seems possible, therefore, that stout, unbroken lines of vetiver might be a godsend to foresters and farmers who, only too often, see years of effort and millions of investment dollars go up in smoke in a single afternoon.
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From page 93... ...
Sucking in a dose of vetiver oil may be enough to do it in. Catching Birds In Zimbabwe, wildlife researchers have found that blocks of napier grass, strategically placed, can attract nightly flocks of weaverbirds.
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