Vetiver Grass A Thin Green Line Against Erosion (1993) / Chapter Skim
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2 Case Studies
2 Case Studies
Pages 32-48
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From page 32... ...
Accordingly, army engineers laid check dams across the streams. That, however, did not solve the problem: after the numerous summer thunderstorms, turbid waters sluiced right over the top and muddied the streams as much as before.
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From page 33... ...
Whether because of better soil moisture or the captured silt, the combination of hedges and revegetated slopes solved what had seemed an intractable erosion problem little more than a year before.
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From page 34... ...
In this environment, so hostile to plant life, the vetiver hedges developed rapidly, trapping sediment even while they were still immature and full of gaps. (Twigs, leaves, and other debris carried by the water tend to lodge between the grass plants and helped plug the holes.)
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From page 35... ...
, which are ditches designed to carry excess water safely off the slopes. There, it reinforces the dirt walls to stop rushing runoff from bursting through.3 Householders also use it to prevent mud and water from invading their backyards.
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From page 36... ...
Seedlings are never seen, although newly planted slips sometimes wash out and establish themselves down the slope, where they may look like errant seedlings. By and large the hedges seem to have little effect on neighboring crops, but plants immediately next to an old vetiver hedge sometimes exhibit a reduction in growth.
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From page 37... ...
Indeed, the better microclimate and environment between the rows helped the NBG researchers establish a workable farming system. In the process, the soil began slowly to improve.
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From page 38... ...
38 VETIVER GRASS Through vetiver, this . Near Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
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From page 39... ...
Its ability to survive the alkalinity and harshness of these degraded plains provided an initial plant cover that helped stabilize the land. The vetiver rows reduced the excessive effects of wind and sun and erosion, and other plants could then be established as well.
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From page 40... ...
However, also having seen massive erosion problems, especially on steep hills, I was prepared to have a look-see at anything that might work." Luckily, Yoon managed to locate a vetiver clump near the city of Taiping. He carefully broke up the clump into 57 separate plants (tillers)
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From page 41... ...
Yoon's other work concentrated on testing vetiver's ability to protect highway embankments, steep banks in housing estates, and hillsides in large new plantations. In such sites, saving a few dollars in propagation and planting costs is trivial, and Yoon grows out the plants in polybags to ensure that they rapidly produce uniform hedges when placed out on the site.
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From page 42... ...
Although not really established in the loose and highly erodible soil, they protected the site during one of the severest downpours in memory. The bare section adjacent washed out.
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From page 43... ...
Vetiver hedgerows protecting newly formed embankments around a deep pond. This plant, which withstands wet conditions and even total immersion, seems an excellent candidate for protecting the edges of waterways of all types.
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From page 44... ...
. Yoon concluded, therefore, that vetiver will be used for much more than just erosion control; it will also be a ready supply of quality mulch for suppressing weeds, conserving soil moisture, and boosting crop yields.
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From page 45... ...
But the farmer faced a dilemma: keep the cane or replace it? As a result of such experiences, the South African Sugar Experimental Farm is conducting a 5-hectare study of soil loss and water retention .
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From page 46... ...
An interesting project, developed by the Institute of Commercial Forestry Research, has used vetiver hedges to stop soil loss in firebreaks, which were a major source of erosion. Thanks to the institute's work, the South African forestry industry has now accepted vetiver for this use.
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From page 47... ...
Currently, however, the only other efforts to halt this disaster on Madagascar consist mainly of scattered reforestation projects. Their impact is often minimal because, in the absence of adequate ground cover, few of the seedlings survive and those that do grow slowly.
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From page 48... ...
It complements agriculture, horticulture, and reforestation. With well-established vetiver lines, for example, many other kinds of land uses that lead to soil conservation are being developed: annual crops, perennial crops (notably fruits and fodders)
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