Vetiver Grass Technology for Small Tropical Islands.

 

Currently there are a number of initiatives using various vetiver applications, especially for soil conservation, pollution control, and slope stabilization. Most are funded locally and by small UNDP and other regional grants. A lot can be done with a little money and by folks whom are committed to working with local and mostly poor communities. Here is a video that June Slinger, CEO of Eco Strategies Grenada, sent me about a vetiver program in Grenada, Caribbean. -- https://vimeo.com/589975013 that she is responsible for. Well produced (18 minute)

 

On the other side of the world a Vetiver pilot program is launched and funded for Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. The attached (39 minutes) video is a recording of the project launch meeting held early this week by Zoom. It includes a useful presentation by Robinson Vanoh who is the Vetiver Coordinator for the South Pacific Islands. Robinson is a committed and experienced in Vetiver. He lives in Papua New Guinea , and is an Assistant Director of TVNI. He will also be the external advisor to the program. Paul Oana, CEO of Pacific Exchange (a local NGO) is project manager. We wish them and the participants good luck

https://youtu.be/hO9wcrMrbXY

 

Both of these programs are short term pilot/start up vetiver projects that are small enough to be funded through regional and local aid offices. If successful they should be able to attract funds for scale up operations and projects.

 

Ist International Webinar on Vetiver Grass Technology 2021

 Central Bicol State University of Agriculture of the Philippines  https://cbsua.edu.ph/ is holding a webinar on Vetiver Grass Technology on September 28th 2021. Dick Grimshaw, Paul Truong and Robinson Vanoh of TVNI  will be participating. See attached program:

Vetiver Grass Technology - some random observations

Without soil and water there will be no photosynthesis and no life on this planet. Both are becoming degraded and in short supply globally -- Vetiver Grass Technology (VGT) can improve both and deserves government focus and support."

 

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi: AMF have an important role in the growth of vetiver and we are seeing increased use of vetiver by permaculturists for all sorts of purposes including its planting within stands of other crops and sometimes very close to young plant seedlings such as papaya, mango, dragon fruit. etc with what appears to be positive growth benefits (linked possibly to moisture and AMF). This begs the question as to differentiating between vetiver cultivars on the basis of root architecture for this purpose and are some cultivars better at hosting AMF.

Leaf and stem density: Although the roots are important, particularly as a stand alone plant, the leaf and stem density as well as the total mass, play an important role when vetiver is used as a conservation barrier to trap sediment flow  to disperse concentrated water flows across and behind the vetiver barrier, and reduce flooding ... These same barriers have a use as a source of forage, thatch, mulch etc. High leaf density and mass in vetiver  generally is reflected in its tillering capacity and root mass. Deeper rooted plants also are better at recycling soil nutrients and better growth under dry conditions. We have noticed that once users understand the multiple benefits of vetiver they are more receptive to using the plant for soil conservation. Also deeper rooted plants can punch through soil pans and the impediments thus enabling ground water recharge (by as much as 4 times) from the spread out rainfall runoff temporarily trapped behind the barriers — reflecting a secondary but important benefit of vetiver barriers.

Root digging: We have in the past been concerned about the potential of vetiver hedgerows being dug for the oil.  In reality it is rarely a problem and we virtually never receive feedback that it occurs. Most vetiver that is planted for oil (VPO) is planted on lighter sandier deep soils that are easy to dig (often on flat land) - on the other hand most vetiver grown for soil conservation or slope stabilization is grown under conditions and soil types that make digging difficult and uneconomic. Where VPO is planted on sloping land and where the digging process can result in erosion, farmers need to incorporate permanent vetiver contour barriers to protect the VPO crop. This message needs to be passed on to these farmers (as is being done now in Haiti).  

Vetiver type for oil: My impression (and I stand to being corrected) is that from what I have seen in the field and from many photographs that have been posted on line is that the VPO types appear to be sturdier, bulkier, taller and more dense than some of the other types, and that the triploid/polyploids used for oil originating from south India would appear the sturdiest. Thus, as long as the plant is sterile why not use the VPO for environmental purposes. One big advantage of this would be that VPO producers  could become integrated with the "not for oil" vetiver users thus providing a secondary income for oil producers (very useful when there is an oversupply of oil and oil prices are low) and what should be a very low cost source of plant material for other users. (planting slips would be low cost as they would be a byproduct of VPO harvesting and the potential supply is very high).  Assuming we can discount the “digging” aspects as a problem then can we narrow the vetiver types to a few that are multipurpose includes quality oil, deep roots, good host to AMF, and sturdy and dense stems and leaves. 

Vetiver types generally:  Other aspects that are becoming important include (a) salt tolerance - especially for coastal stabilization (b) insect habitat and pest control - Chinese are now using vetiver as a dead end trap crop for rice stem borer control and as a habitat for beneficial insects such as parasitic wasps -- I wonder if there are any differences between vetiver types as to their attractiveness and “killing” of insects such as stem borers -- (c) fire tolerance - with increase in wild fires are there types of vetiver that are more resistant to fire, (d) decontamination of polluted soil and water, and (e) cold tolerance - increasing demand to use vetiver under very cold winter hot summer climatic regimes. The Chinese claim that have identified types that perform better and survive cold (freezing) conditions.

 

Barriers deterring the use of Vetiver Grass. (1) Some research shows that farmers need to be financially supported to undertake soil conservation works. - seems to work in the US in various forms but not in poor countries. Poor country conservation has generally come through World Food Program “food for work” programs and bilateral and multilateral aid agencies, or heavily subsidized  programs where there is no incentive for farmers to maintain their works and where there are huge opportunities for corruption by officials at all levels (2) engineered design based systems are generally preferred by “officials” - a bigger  budget line -  more room for corrupt practices and more control by involved officials. (3) biological systems are generally not preferred by engineers as most have not been trained in such aspects. They are also much lower costs and less opportunity for corrupt practices. (4) In most developing countries soil conservation is the responsibility of a “Soil Conservation Department” most of these are focused entirely on soil conservation and rarely consider the wider and secondary aspects that are derived from the primary work. Thus when introducing (perhaps reluctantly) a technology like Vetiver Grass the conservation agents  are either generally unaware of the many secondary benefits or do not tell the end user what those benefits may be. This all adds up to low adoption rates (5) In this age of "global environmental threat" primary and secondary schools should have a curricula that includes a compulsory class on basic environmental principles. — in other words some serious thought needs to be given to environmental education.

Research .  There are plenty of opportunities for vetiver research in many areas of application.  Vetiver research needs to be better coordinated. Such research should be multi-sector driven and not just the responsibility of the agricultural sector. Vetiver in its many applications could prove a very valuable a tool to mitigate many soil and water issues relating to climate change. A good case could be made to the World Bank and others to support such research

Policy: With 35 years of global research, development and experience to call on there is an opportunity for Government agencies to set out a clear policy directive on the use and development  of Vetiver Grass Technology (VGT) in all aspects. 

 

VGT is a proven success, is low cost, and applicable for a wide range of applications under a wide range of conditions. What more does one need!

The Role of Hedgerows in Agriculture

Woody hedgerows have played a vital role in English agriculture for centuries. Originally planted to primarily demarcate land holdings and to contain livestock movement  and side benefits not fully understood until recently following studies undertaken as a result of alarm for the rapid removal of hedgerows in the period since World War II. A paper "The role of hedgerows in soil functioning within agricultural land (2019)" by a team from Leeds University exposes some of the many soil related benefits linked to hedgerows.

The Abstract :

"Intensification of agriculture has led to major losses of hedgerows and field margins worldwide. Soil sample extraction, in situ time series of soil moisture, temperature and soil water quality analyses, annual earthworm
sampling and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi sampling enabled comparison of soil functions between typical hedgerows, grass field margins, pasture and arable (mainly winter wheat) fields in a temperate, lowland setting. Mean bulk density (upper 50 cm), surface compaction and soil moisture content were significantly lower while organic matter content and pore water dissolved organic carbon concentrations were significantly greater in hedgerow soils, than margins or fields. Mean nitrate and phosphate concentrations were three and ten times larger, respectively, in soil solutions under hedgerows than arable fields while ammonium concentrations were least in arable fields. Saturated hydraulic conductivity was significantly greater under hedgerows (median=102mm hr−1) where it took an average of one hour longer for soils to reach maximum moisture content following rainfall, than adjacent arable (median=3mm hr−1) or pasture fields and margins (median=27mm hr−1). Hedgerow soils had a greater proportion of flow through micropores and less macropore flow than other soils. The pasture and margin soils had the largest proportion of macropore flow (> 85%) and more (and larger) anecic earthworm species, such as Lumbricus terrestris which produce vertical burrows. Earthworm density, biomass and diversity were greater in pasture and margin soils, followed by hedgerow soils, and tended to be lowest in arable soils. For both total and AM fungi, hedgerow soils hosted a distinct and heterogeneous soil community, margin and pasture communities were diverse but clustered together, and arable communities formed a distinct cluster, with low inter-sample variation and significantly lowest AM fungal richness. The findings demonstrate that soils under hedgerows, which should be conserved, can provide important functions on farmland including storing organic carbon, promoting infiltration and storing runoff, increasing earthworm diversity and hosting distinct AM communities."  Full paper at: https://www.vetiver.org/UK_HoldenSoilbiohedge2019.pdf

The paper concludes;

"Both hedgerows and grassy field margins can provide a wide range of enhancements to soil function that may provide wider ecosystem service benefits to accrue from agricultural systems. Given that global food security is a pressing issue and more intensive farm production may be required in some regions, it will be important to develop simple land management strategies that can enable food and fibre production to occur in a sustainable way. Enhancing the area of both field margin woody hedgerows and grass strips globally could be an important technique for reducing flood risk as well as for enhancing total soil C storage and the diversity of soil ecosystems across agricultural landscapes. One trade off that requires further research is the potential of hedges to capture pollution from the atmosphere which may result in reduced water quality in runoff and groundwater flow emerging from soils below hedges."
 
I find this paper interesting in that the positive benefits from woody hedgerows (as well as grassy field margins as grown in England) replicate many of the benefits shown in vetiver grass related research, particularly those aspects relating to the role of soil micropore, rainfall runoff reduction and the slow down of flooding, the high arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, and enhanced soil carbon storage.  Although not specifically addressed in the paper, well managed English hedgerows when planted across the slope act as formidable soil retention barriers as any one can see when taking a walk along a hillside hedgerow where the difference between up slope and down slope can be as much as 3 or 4 feet -- just as we find with vetiver hedge barriers.

This paper reinforces the need to plant dense vegetative barriers (hedges) along farm field boundaries in our efforts to mitigate climate change and intensified agriculture. Under small farm agriculture in the tropics, where landholdings are extremely small, vetiver "hedgerows" make ideal boundary barriers, and when properly managed, take up minimum space, have an infinite lifespan, and provide many secondary benefits.

Black Vetiver - Chrysopogon nigritanus

C. nigritanus on a flood plain in northern Ghana

More on Chrysopogon nigritanus.  I have continued investigations into this species of vetiver - common name ”Black vetiver”. It is found in nearly all sub-saharan African countries generally in association with river flood plain and seasonally flooded areas. For example the peripheral  areas of the Kafue River flats in Zambia, and the flooded areas of the Niger and Senegal rivers of West Africa. Its main uses include medicinal, freshening drinking water, thatch, handicrafts, forage (when young after burning), and farm boundary marking.

It appears only to propagate naturally from seed in these permanent/semi-permanent waterlogged areas.  Outside of such areas seeds either do not germinate or die after germination, and if used domestically the plant is propagated through slips.

The species appears to be retreating. Tony Cisse who farms near Dakar, Senegal only grows C.zizanioides descended from Chris Juliard’s importation (ex South Africa) initiative (1990s). He writes "Traditionally the most common use for C.nigritanus in Senegal has been for the roots that are added to drinking water. This is the common way people recognize the plant and its name in local languages. Whereas it would seem logical that it should be grown locally, there is now very little evidence of this. Vetiver roots are imported from neighboring Mali, and sold in small bundles. I have heard it was used in the past (possibly over 60 years ago or more) to demarcate fields, but I have never seen nor heard of it growing naturally, at least in the western areas of Senegal.  Reasons for this are likely to be associated with climate change and the drop in annual rainfall. There are very few areas that can be designated as flood plains, and standing water and ponds are generally very rare if they exist for more than a few weeks at most during the rains, and so this could account for this absence, although still present in Mali. The water table in much of Senegal is below the reach of vetiver roots. It is possible that there are parts of Eastern or northern Senegal along the river where the right conditions for C. nigritanus exist, but I have not been there to observe".  In Nigeria and other African countries, where new dams have been constructed, the downstream flood plains are no longer flooded and wild vetiver seems to be a diminishing component of the ecosystem.

C. nigritanus hedgerow for erosion control - Mambila Plateau Nigeria

Sterile non invasive C.zizanioides remains the preferred choice for all Vetiver System applications. Even though Nigerian research does support C. nigritanus for erosion control and phytoremediation applications note C. nigritanus has NOT been tested for steep slope stabilization and virtually no work has been carried out to identify many of its characteristics - depth, tensile strength, shear strength of its roots; pest control properties, forage value, and others) I would recommend its use for erosion control and phytoremedial applications where it is a native plant, and then only after exhausting all efforts at locating and propagating C. zizanioides. In either case propagation has to be by clump division, so it would be best to use the superior and well tested C. zizanioides particularly where country wide programs are developed and where many nurseries will be required.

C. nigritanus grown on the campus of Abuja University, Nigeria.

Further research on C. nigritanus should be encouraged. Trials might well identify many more characteristics similar to those of C. zizanioides and may also better delimit areas where it is most suitable for application. Both species are very closely related and appear to behave rather similarly. Determining those differences would reinforce future recommendations.

China Central Government Encourages to Control Rice Stem Borer with Vetiver.

The website of China Central Government issued the following statement by Mr. Xu Sunda, the Xinhua News Agency on 7 April 2019 in Hangzhou.

"The Zhejiang Provincial Plant Protection and Quarantine Station issued official document titled "Complete Green Protection Technology of rice Insect - rice striped stem borer - Chilo suppressalis." It provided farmers with Complete Green Protection Technology, including agricultural protection, ecological regulation, biological control, physical and chemical control.

It suggests that rice should be planted in large areas, instead of in small pieces of field with different rice vareities as Bridge Field, and it recommends farmers to plant vetiver grass along border roads and field bunds. The vetiver clumps should be planted spacing 3-5m in order to effectively attract female adults to lay eggs in vetiver plants to reduce their eggs in rice.

Rice striped stem borer (Chilo suppressalis Walker) is one of the most important insect pests of rice in China, and its damage commonly led to significant yield loss. The resistance to insecticides became higher and higher in recent years, because of long term and incorrect use of insecticides. The pest seems hardly to controlable by insecticides. In the area where single-harvested rice is intercropped with double-harvested rice (a year), the damage by stem borer is more serious, So farmers started to plant more one-harvested rice, which seriously influenced food security.

To solve this problem, the crop protection institutions paid attention to control rice stem borer comprehensively, through improving strategies of pest management and technology extension. They promote "Green Plant Protection" and have got outstanding results. According to statistics the injury degree of stem borer has reduced in Zhejiang Province in 2018. Compared with that in 2017, the injury rice area and the loss of rice yield caused by stem borer decreased by 14.98% and 15.61% respectively in 2018.

Since 2007, directed by Prof. Lv Zhongxian of Zhejiang Academy of Agriculture Sciences, systematic and comprehensive researches have been done on stem borer control by planting vetiver, which concerned almost all important aspects and received great achievements."

More details of the research is at: http://www.vetiver.org/CHN_JIA-2019%20Vetiver-Lu%20YH-.pdf

Philippines - Farmer Feedback on the use of Vetiver - what they thought of Vetiver in the 1990s

The following are observations by Vetiver) users given  during a 1996 community workshop at Matalom, Leyte, Philippines. Note in this part of the Philippines vetiver is known as “Mura” or “Mora”. (Prepared by , Program Field Coordinator, FARMI, ViSCA, Baybay, Leyte, Philippines). 

Leon Pen, Barangay Chairman, Templanza, Matalom, Leyte.....”I got my first Mura (Vetiver) planting materials from one of my barangay councilmen Jacinto Gerona. I planted Mura in my farm near my house. Mura is easy to plant with minimal maintenance. It grows very well and effectively controls the down flow of soil during the rainy season. At present, the contour plots of my farm have been leveled off. In addition, I am also using Mura to cure high blood pressure in my work as Tambalan (local medicine man). The only comment I have with Mura, is that my carabaos (water buffalo) do not like to eat it”. (If you cut your Mura regularly, say once a month, your carabaos will love it...Ed)

On Farm Soil Loss and Rainfall Runoff During Major Rainfall Events

One of the consequences of climate change is that rainfall events are often less frequent and more intense.  During the 1980s a series of studies relating to vetiver grass and soil and water conservation were carried out by Dr. G.M. Bahrad of Akola University in Maharashtra, India. Here is a summary of some of that work;

Drs. G.M. Bharad and B.C. Bathkal from PKV University in Akola, Maharashtra, India have provided the Network with another season’s data on the impacts of vetiver grass hedgerows on soil loss and surface runoff.

Figures 1 and 2 show the soil loss (total and maximum one day soil losses) and surface runoff from the plots over three years and Figure 3 compares these rates to the control plot (ACROSS) from the top 10% largest storms over the three years. The individual treatments are : ACROSS = across slope cultivation only; BUND = a graded (0.2%) earthen bund at a 1 meter vertical interval with contour cultivation; LEUCAENA = Leucaena leucocephala contour hedgerows at a 1 meter vertical interval with contour cultivation; and VETIVER = Chysopogon zizanioides contour hedgerows at a 1 meter vertical interval with contour cultivation. Plots are approximately 0.35 ha, slopes are less than 2%, soils are vertisols, climate is semiarid.

On farm management of Vetiver grass hedgerows

With the increasing potential of multipurpose uses of vetiver grass hedgerow (VGH) by farmers it is important to give some thought as to how the hedges are managed - basically planting design, maintenance and harvesting. The primary purpose of VGH is for soil and water conservation, secondary uses include pest control, forage, thatch, handicrafts, waste water clean up, biomass and more.

The basic (primary) design.  Hedges should be aligned on an “average” contour as shown in this figure. 

Planting distance within the line should be 15 cm.  In image below left hand row demonstrates optimum hedge density at two years at 15 cm between plants

The linear distance between VGH will vary with slope, the rule thumb spacing for erosion control is at 2 meter Vertical Interval (VI).  Some examples: 1% slope 104 meters apart; 5% slope 38 meters; 10% 22 meters; 20% 10 meters, 25% 8 meters, and  45% 5 meters.  Often farmers on steeper slopes will start with hedgerows further apart, and then later as experience builds up they add more hedgerows between existing ones if needed. whereas on flatter slopes the farmer may have more hedges than actually needed as when used for marker lines (ridges)

On very small fields/farms/gardens planting a vetiver hedge all around the boundary of the area will provide adequate protection as well as demarcating the field boundary.

VGH management. Hedgerows can grow as high as 2 meters or more, but are often cut for various purposes during the year.  It is recommended that the minimum cutting height is 20 - 30 cm.  A 20 - 30  cm high hedge will be dense, stiff and will withstand rainfall runoff. This image can be considered a “perfect” hedge

A Basis for Action: PPBES Report - Worsening Worldwide Land Degradation Now ‘Critical’, Undermining Well-Being of 3.2 Billion People -

 Press release from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) - March 2018 - see: https://www.ipbes.net/news/media-release-worsening-worldwide-land-degradation-now-%E2%80%98critical%E2%80%99-undermining-well-being-32

“Rapid expansion and unsustainable management of croplands and grazing lands is the most extensive global direct driver of land degradation, causing significant loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services – food security, water purification, the provision of energy and other contributions of nature essential to people. This has reached ‘critical’ levels in many parts of the world, the report says. According to the authors, land degradation manifests in many ways: land abandonment, declining populations of wild species, loss of soil and soil health, rangelands and fresh water, as well as deforestation.”

VETIVER FOR STEM BORER CONTROL OF RICE

Twenty counties in China's Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces are planting vetiver as an ecological engineering method (trap crop) for the control of two stem borer species - Chilo suppressalis (striped stem borer) and Sesamia inferens (pink stem borer). The results are very encouraging and it appears that rice farmers are excited with the significant increase in protection (70%) against stem borer damage and as a result a reduction in pesticide use and cost. Stem borer populations on rice decreased by up to 84% when vetiver rows were planted 50 meters apart and 3-5 meter apart in the row (in most cases hedgerows on the paddy field boundaries). A number of research papers have been published in China that describe why vetiver is such an effective trap crop. First, there are indications that some of the unique oils in vetiver when acting together act as a pheromone - volatiles - that attract the stem borer moths. Secondly vetiver contains toxic substances, which have lethal effect on the larvae that inhibit the esterase and cytochrome P450 enzyme activities, leading to the function loss of larvae in detoxification and metabolism. Additionally, compared to rice, reduced nutrients in vetiver cannot meet the demand of the larvae, and led to digestive function and physiological activity disorder and ultimately death. For newcomers to this topic you should be aware that the maize stem borer moth also is attracted by vetiver where it lays its eggs, thus reducing damage to the adjacent maize crop. Copies of the Chinese research papers relating to this topic (all with English abstracts) are:

Rice Pest Management by Ecological Engineering: A Pioneering Attempt in China
Optimal planting pattern of trap plant vetiver grass, Vetiveria zizanioides, for controlling rice striped stem borer, Chilo suppressalis
Effects of Vetiver Grass, Vetiveria zizanioides, on the Activities of detoxification of enzymes and acetylcholinesterase in the pink stem borer Sesamia inferens larvae
The Lethal Mechanism of Trap Plant, Vetiveria zizianioides, Against the Larvae of Chilo suppressalis (Striped Rice Stem Borer)
The effects of spraying on host plants on the oviposition preference of Asia Pink stem borer Sesamia inferens
Effects of Trap Plant, Vetiver Grass (Vetiveria zizanioides) on Nutritional and Digestive Enzyme Activities of Pink Stem Borer (Sesamia inferens) Larvae

Electrophysiological responses of the rice striped stem borer Chilo suppressalis to volatiles of the trap plant vetiver grass (Vetiveria
zizanioides L.)

Vetiver System for Land Restoration

If you are interested in land restoration, this video from Ecuador, by a man who knows what he is talking about, is highly recommended

Vetiver System - Vetiver Grass Technology Applications

Vetiver Grass is an absolute unique plant for many reasons, but its most impressive characteristics are that it can be grown successfully in virtually every country with a warm to hot climate, and for a large range of different applications covering a number of critical sectors relating to the environment.  Here is a list of these applications with links to some short photo presentations which helps put this plant into perspective.  Note "high resolution images are also available - click on button near bottom of table.

THE VETIVER_ SYSTEM -- OVERVIEW
VETIVER_ SYSTEM AND CLIMATE CHANGE
ABOUT VETIVER - THE PLANT	PROPAGATION & PLANTING
AGRICULTURAL USES	FORAGE AND BIOMASS
ON FARM SOIL & WATER CONSERVATION	LANDSCAPING
LAND REHABILITATION	MINE REHABILITATION
MINE REHABILITATION LARGE SCALE APPLICATIONS	COASTLINE STABILIZATION
BRIDGE PROTECTION	HIGHWAY STABILIZATION
PUBLIC UTILITY STABILIZATION	STEEP SLOPE STABILIZATION
RURAL ROAD STABILIZATION	RAILROAD STABILIZATION
UPLAND FLOOD CONTROL	LOWLAND DIKES & LEVEE STABILIZATION
RIVER BANK STABILIZATION	DAM STABILIZATION
LANDFILL TREATMENT	EFFLUENT DISPOSAL
HANDICRAFTS	OTHER USES
HIGH RESOLUTION FILES OF ABOVE APPLICATIONS
TVNI - WEBSITE - NEWS - MENU - DOCUMENTS
FACEBOOK

Please share with others who might be interested.  Thank you

Restoring Our Watershed

Restoring Our Watershed is an organization in Costa Rica that is working with Communities to restore the degraded land and groundwater in northwest Costa Rica.  The heart and soul of its strategy is empowering families to control erosion and capture more rainwater, most frequently using vetiver grass technology (VGT).

"Restoring Our Watershed is creating a positive model for watershed management to ensure that future generations will have access to plentiful water, both in the Nandamojo basin and throughout Guanacaste.

Why? Water scarcity threatens communities in northwestern Costa Rica, and the process of assigning blame is tearing many apart. Major industries, including tourism and agriculture, have been pitted against residents of small towns whose wells are going dry. In most cases, the proposed solutions to this crisis focus solely on infrastructure improvements (new wells) or limiting the amount of water industries can withdraw.

Climate change has taken its toll on Guanacaste, which has suffered both a long-term drying trend and shorter, intense periods of drought. Projections for the future cast a grim outlook for the province – less rainfall and an increasing frequency of droughts.

Effluent crisis in densely populated countries – one possible solution – Vetiver System

Vetiver constructed wetland still working
after 12 years

Each time I open up Google Earth and look at various locations in India I see densely populated rural and urban centers, and know that many of them have no formal waste disposal systems, and are unlikely to have such facilities in the foreseeable future. In the mean time the problem multiplies as the population continues to grow.  The options are: (1) do nothing - not acceptable (2) wait for government to do something - slow and huge funding constraints (3) look for solutions that may not be perfect but will at least move towards some mitigation of the problem, (4) find solutions that depend heavily on community involvement. and supporting voluntary organizations. The problems if not at crisis level now, will be a crisis in the foreseeable future - that means soon – it also means that options 3 and 4 have to be given serious consideration.

"The Father of Vetiver", John Greenfield died at his home in New Zealand on February 25 2017. John often reminded us that as agriculturists we had only 30 to 40 seasons to attempt to make significant change during our professional careers. He certainly succeeded in doing so, and today tens of thousands of people in the tropical world have benefited from his insights and actions on soil and moisture conservation and the application of the Vetiver System. He was a very practical hands on agronomist and conservationist whose work was always well based on science. He understood what he saw, and was able to create practical common sense solutions from those observations. We know him affectionately as "The Father of Vetiver" - and he is well known to many people through the simple hand book "Vetiver Grass - A Hedge Against Erosion" - a handbook that had to fit in the shirt pocket of a farmer! and one that has been translated into countless languages. 
I personally knew John since 1985 when he came to work with me in India. He became a good friend and colleague. We had many great times together in India, and after, from a distance promoting the Vetiver System around the globe. His was not a wasted life, but one of action, one that will continue to impact for a very, very, long time into the future on many thousands users of the Vetiver System in many different ways. John was always looking to help the world's small rainfed farmers. The best tribute to him would be for those people working with and advising this group of farmers, to make greater efforts to introduce the Vetiver System and the very unique plant that it is based on. Those who work with small farmers might like to read this: ALLEVIATING POVERTY IN THE THIRD WORLD -- THIS IS ALL IT TAKES!
Emerging from John's "Vetiver Grass Technology" based soil and water conservation focused work has been, in recent years, a series of bioengineering and phytoremediation applications that could have a profound impact on our environment at this time of climate change. 
Our thoughts are with Sandra (his long time partner) and his children.


Dick Grimshaw. February 25 2017

The Vetiver System supports Community Resilience at a time of uncertainty - Part I - The Farm

Figure 1:Hassan Ali and family from Ethiopia - a leading user of the
Vetiver System and who  is as a result much more resilient to uncertainty

I propose to write about how the Vetiver System can help build up community resilience in these uncertain times when many communities can expect little support from government or others to deal with increasing problems created by climate change, continuing poverty, and very limited financial resources. The review will be carried out over a number of post. Most rural people in the tropics and semi arid areas are poor, and even when out of poverty most are unable to manage the environmental crises that currently, and in the future, will confront them. Most communities worry about being able to make a decent living from their small farms or businesses, they want to educate their children at higher levels, they worry about the quality and availability of their water supply, they worry about potential disasters that may isolate them from neighboring communities and services, and they see continuing and unabated health challenges often caused by environmental mismanagement. These concerns are magnified because most communities lack access to low cost technologies that might help them overcome some of their problems.

The Vetiver System (VS) is one of a number of technologies that can help them. VS is low cost, relatively simple to understand, safe, and has over the past 30 years been well proven. The Vetiver Grass Technology, (VGT) used for decades by farmers in south India as a tool for soil conservation, was reintroduced and "institutionalized" by John Greenfield of New Zealand whilst he was working for the World Bank in India in the 1980s. At that time the objective was to establish VGT as a more appropriate erosion control technology than the traditional engineered contour bunds. Later VGT formed the basis of a number of other applications that collectively are known as the Vetiver System (VS), these will be reviewed in future blogs. The grass when planted as a hedgerow across the slope significantly reduces soil loss and rainfall runoff. As a result soil fertility is enhanced (increased organic matter, reduced nutrient loss, and nutrient enhancement through increased soil micro-organism activity), crop water availability is improved (enhanced permeability and rate of infiltration), ground water is better recharged is less polluted, and; and farmers can use other crop improvement technologies with less fear of "man" induced drought, flood damage, etc. that can lead to economic disaster. Additionally there are many bi-products that further enhance farm income including vetiver grass use as forage, mulch, thatch, fuel, medicine, crop protection (integrated pest management), and material for handicrafts. All these uses are quantified in the many research and "feed back" papers and documents found at the TVNI website - www.vetiver.org.

 One of the most successful and widespread on farm application of vetiver has been in the Mettu-Gore region of western Ethiopia, where it was introduced in the 1990's by the Austrian NGO, Menschen fur Menschen, with some financial support from TVNI. Today tens of thousands of small farmers are using vetiver in that region. Here are some examples from Ethiopia showing how VGT has been successfully used on farms at any scale.

Figure 2: Google Earth image (1/2014) of Hassan Ali's farm near Gore 

- western Ethiopia. 8°11'11.23"N, 35°21'2.58"E

 Hassan Ali and family A small farmer in Gore District, Hassan Ali, started using vetiver about 20 years ago and soil fertility and "rainfall security" he was able year after year to increase his income to enable him to educate his children through university. He also was a key person in the area to teaching other famers about the benefits of VGT that has resulted in the spread of the technology. "Seeing is Believing"- Figure 2 is  a 2014 Google Earth image of his farm with his vetiver hedgerows marked with a "V" in red, and some photos that I took in 2009 to match some of the locations on the GE image - marked as yellow numbers.

The Vetiver System and India - It takes a generation!

A recent quote from a senior official in West Bengal India:

"Soil erosion is one of the largest environmental issues facing the earth today; and the river banks region of India, with heavy rainfall, is particularly affected. Erosion devastates infrastructural activities- landslides, erosion by river and flood water take heavy toll of developed infrastructure. From an engineer’s perspective sustainable asset management has posed as a gargantuan task because of soil erosion. Traditional hard engineering is now found to be inconsistent with the three pillars of sustainability - economy, social and environmental. Hard engineering interventions to prevent erosion have been attempted over decades in the region, incurring large financial and environmental costs, and with limited success. This in combination with limited State budgets makes finding an alternative, low cost, environmentally sustainable solution imperative. One such method that shows considerable promise is Vetiver grass."

30 years ago (a generation ago) John Greenfield and I, when working for the World Bank in India, re-introduced the Vetiver Grass Technology (VGT) as an alternative to the engineering approach  - the latter did not work very well - too expensive, heavily subsidized, badly maintained, and mostly ineffective.  We were not very popular for promoting vetiver grass hedgerows as components of World Bank funded projects (Indian Watershed Projects in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh States) as an alternative and better technological and economic solution; questions were tabled in the Indian Parliament in New Delhi, some people even wanted to ban the technology!

Well, as you can see from the above quote, we have come a long way from those days, thanks to a new generation of professionals and the pressure created by climate change and social needs that demand alternative, effective and lower cost solutions.

News from China

The second year of a new project: ”Vetiver and agroforestry for poverty reduction and natural resource protection in the Dabie mountains of China”, supported by Germany, continues to promote VS technology in this very poor part of China.

Mr. Yong Lu, associate professorfrom School of Economics and Management, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, has redesigned our website http://www.vetiver.org.cn/  When opened by Google Chrome browser it can be nicely translated to English

A new book “Vetiver System Research, Application and Extension”, edited by Xia Hanping and Liyu Xu will introduce new VS development since 2008 in China and in the world. This will follow a book titled “Vetiver System: Theory and Practice” published in 2008.

We will establish a new network: Southwest China Vetiver Network based on  Kunming to promote VS development in a region covered by many mountains.

Vetiver Coordinator, Liyu Xu.