Number 24 The Vetiver NEWSLETTER 24.pdfSulphate Soils, for Landfill Leachate Control, for Algae...

By Jim Smyle, President - TVN

It has been approximately one year since ourlast Vetiver Newsletter and I am sure many of

you have been wondering what has happened.In the past, TVN Newsletters had been pub-lished about two times per year; something towhich we had all become accustomed. Thereason for the long time since publication of thelast Newsletter has nothing to do with a lack ofnew information and news. On the contrary,during 2001/2002 we have seen a lot of activi-ty worldwide with the Vetiver System [VS].Rather it has been due, among others, to theincrease in activities by the Regional andNational Networks, many of which are puttingout two to three Newsletters per year and keep-ing their membership well-informed on relevantgoings-on. Also, this last year has seen TVN’sactivities become much more web-based. All ofthe good information coming in is availableimmediately as it is published on the web. Thisnow also allows the Regional and NationalNetworks to rapidly get the information out totheir ‘unconnected’ (via the Internet) readers.The key features of TVN on the web are:

TVN Homepage <www.vetiver.org>. TheTVN website is a repository for all current andhistoric information on the Vetiver System.Dick Grimshaw is the webmaster and hekeeps the site updated so that all the latestinformation is immediately available.

TVN Discussion Board. Inaugurated onNovember 30, 2001 this lively online discussion

now has some 240 postings. See page 4 for afull listing of topics.

The Discussion Board is a handy place toget your technical questions answered or toshare your expertise and knowledge with oth-ers. Register and join in on the DiscussionBoard at <www.vetiver.com/discus>. Thearchives of past discussions as well as the cur-rent, ongoing exchanges can be found there.

Email Queries. These days over 90% ofthe correspondence we receive comes throughemail (<[email protected]>). This allowsJoan Miller, our TVN coordinator, to put peopledirectly in touch with other users in their owncountry, with their national or regional networks(where these exist), or with our VS experts whocan provide detailed technical advice.

Of course, we are not giving up producingnewsletters, answering mail and sending outpublished information (like the ever popular

July 2002Number 24

The Vetiver Network

VETIVER NEWSLETTERA NEWS MAGAZINE PROMOTING THE VETIVER SYSTEM

HER ROYAL H IGHNESS PRINCESS MAHA CHAKRI SIRINDHORN OF THAILAND - PATRON

INSIDE :Announcements............................3

Letters............................................7

Network News...............................9

Country ReportsIndonesia..........................12China................................12, 13, 15Swaziland.........................13Guyana.............................15

Technical PapersJiji Grass Evaluation.........16

Propagation Improvements.......17Mediterranean Region Facts.........18Submergence Tests.......................18Nurseries.......................................18Road Stabilization..........................19

Vetiver Network Contacts..............20

Vetiver Network OfficersPresident: James SmyleVice-Pres.: Joan MillerTreasurer: Richard GrimshawSecretary: Mark DaffornCoordinator: Joan Miller

Board of DirectorsRichard Grimshaw, ChairmanShawki BarghoutiCornelis des BouvrieMark DaffornJohn GreenfieldCriss JuliardJames SmyleSumet TantivejkulPaul TruongNoel VietmeyerP.K. YoonMonty YudelmanPaul Zuckerman

The Vetiver Network (TVN)3601 N. 14th StreetArlington, Virginia 22201USATel: (001) 703-525-7092Fax: (001) 703-243-6203Email: [email protected]: www.vetiver.org

TVN is an IRS-approved taxexempt non-profit foundation

under code 501(c)(3).

Photo 1. A women’s group in China study theirVetiver System brochures provided to them by theChina Vetiver Network.

Photo Credit: Liyu Xu

WHAT’S HAPPENING AT

TVN ?

“Green Book”). There are still many ofyou who rely on TVN’s ‘conventional’means of getting information to you.However, at this time, because TVN isan all-volunteer effort, our slow down inconventional activities has also beendue to a busy year in our “other” jobs.Unfortunately, this slow down has alsocome at a time when the global activi-ties of TVN have expanded consider-ably and thus more opportunities. So,both for you who rely on hard copies ofnewsletters, information packages,etc. and for those who have yet to hearabout the VS, we are hoping toimprove our capabilities and overcomeour limitations as a voluntary service.To this end, we have been looking at anumber of alternatives:

• Forming a partnership with aWashington, DC-based private,non-profit, international develop-ment organization (ACDI/VOCA)which would operate the “VetiverInformation Network” (VIN) with afull-time coordinator, backed by anexperienced and well-funded, non-profit development agency.

• Decentralize completely such thatthe national and regional Networksbecome the primary providers ofinformation, with the web-site as aclearing house for global informa-tion.

• Other? Suggestions welcome.

So, while we may have been a bitslow this last year, the TVN and itsmembers around the world have beenworking hard and getting results. Useand knowledge of The Vetiver Systemis now expanding at a faster pace thanever before. Here are just a couple ofhighlights:

The dates for the ThirdInternational Vetiver Conference(ICV-3) have been moved up by oneyear to October of 2003. TheConference will be held in Guangzhouand Dr. Luo Fuhe (President,Guangdong Academy of AgriculturalScience and Director, GuangdongProvincial Grass Industry andEnvironment Association) has agreedto become the President of ICV-3 andtake responsibility for providing thenecessary arrangements for the event.

These arrangements are the results ofthe hard work by Prof. Liyu Xu, theCoordinator of the China VetiverNetwork, Dr. Sumet Tantivejkul,Secretary-General of the ChaipattanaFoundation and Chairman of theContinuing Committee (CC) of the ICV,and Dr. Narong Chomchalow,Coordinator of the Pacific Rim VetiverNetwork and Secretary of theCoordinating Committee for ICV-3.

John Greenfield’s new and com-prehensive book on the VS is justabout ready for publishing. The book,entitled, Vetiver Grass — An EssentialPlant for the Conservation of PlanetEarth, has been several years in themaking with John diligently scribblingaway and patiently suffering the edito-rial comments of TVN members.John’s new book pulls together thethousand plus year of history of vetivergrass and “aims to provide planners inthe government and private sectorswith as much information as possibleon this natural system of conservationfor future application…”, which itadmirably does. The book will beavailable in August from InfinityPublishing.com. See page 6 of thisnewsletter for details.

In looking back over what we knowhas been accomplished in the last yearwhat is striking is how one sees that itis people, not organizations or institu-tions that are making all the difference.Criss Juliard in Senegal has beenparticularly busy spreading the word,including setting up demonstrations,looking at applications for Vetiverianigritana and traditional uses of vetiveras a decorative plant.

Additionally, you can find on thewebsite reports on all the new devel-opments over the last twelvemonths…any of which we would behappy to download, print out and sendto those of you without any means ofaccessing the website. Among thethese developments you will find: InVietnam, vetiver is now being used toprotect ditches and river bank proper-ties. There is a ‘Growing VetiverMovement’, in India, for soil and mois-ture conservation in tea plantations. InPortugal for highway landscaping. In

China there are new projects in southChina’s Dabie Mountains; vetivergrass was demonstrated at a gardenshow for landscaping and handicrafts;and a Vetiver Conference was held bythe Highway Bureau of FujianProvince. Reports were received fromChina on the “Stabilization of aRailroad Embankment with Vetiver inSouth China”, on work in theDatianshan Landfill in QuangdongProvince, on the "Stabilization Of aBuilding Site at Huizhou University inSouth China”, “Using Vetiver GrassStabilization of a Sports Stadium Site"and "Environmental Mitigation -Landfill Stabilization and CleanupUsing Vetiver". In Bali, The East BaliPoverty Project is harnessing ‘ThePower Of Vetiver Grass’. In Thailandwe have the reports from Thailand on"The Use of Vetiver Grass System forErosion Control and SlopeStabilization along the Yadana GasPipeline Right of Way", and "Utilizationof Vetiver as a Medicinal and AromaticPlants". In Madagascar, the protec-tion of infrastructure (railroads, ponds,highway) using VS continues to grow.In Australia, "Brisbane Schists [havebeen] Stabilized with Vetiver Grass".Many of the new uses for the VS havebeen documented in Australia: forWaste Water Treatment, forAgrochemical Pollution Control, forWater Quality Improvement in AcidSulphate Soils, for Landfill LeachateControl, for Algae Bloom, and forTreating Sewage Effluent.

Finally, as you may have heard,vetiver's taxonomic name has beenchanged from Vetiveria zizanioides (L.)Nash to Chrysopogon zizanioides (L.)Roberty. Do not expect to see achange in the name of the network…the VS remains the same, vetivergrass is what holds it all together, andTVN will carry on promoting it as asolution for your problems. vv

2 / The Vetiver Newsletter No. 24

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Vetiver Newsletter No. 24 / 3

TVN has been informed that Princess Maha ChakriSirindhorn, Chairperson of His Majesty the King of

Thailand’s Chaipattana Foundation, has agreed to grantUS$10,000 from the Chaipattana Foundation for “The Kingof Thailand Vetiver Award” for the most outstanding workson vetiver. This is the third time that such an award hasbeen made This award will be split into two prizes, valuedat US$5,000 each; one prize will be awarded to the mostoutstanding research on vetiver and the other to the bestprogram for dissemination of vetiver technology.

Nominations for the award may come from any personof any nationality. Please send nominations to:

Office of the Royal Development Projects Board78 Rajdamnern Nok Ave.

Dusit, Bangkok 10300, ThailandFax: (66-2) 280-6206, 629-8915

Email: <[email protected]>

Please include a self-addressed card that can bereturned to the nominees to acknowledge receipt of nomi-

nations. The nominations must be postmarked on orbefore 30 June 2003.

The announcement of the winners will be made inAugust 2003. The winners will receive the awards from HerRoyal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, thePatron of the Vetiver Network, on His Majestry’s behalf.The presentation of the Award will be made during theOpening Ceremony of ICV-3 in Guangzhou, Guangdong,China on 6 October 2003. The award does not cover thecost of participation at ICV-3. vv

VETIVER NETWORK AWARDS PROGRAM

UPDATE… NOMINATIONS WANTED

The Vetiver Network reminds you that the third series ofVetiver Awards (announced in Vetiver Newsletter #23),

totaling US$45,000 in prize money will be awarded thanksto a generous grant from the William H. DonnerFoundation. In anticipation of the Third InternationalConference on Vetiver, to be held in China in October 2003,whose theme will be “Vetiver and Water”, one category ofthe awards will be VS applications in relation to water. Asin the past, the TVN hopes to receive many nominations foreach category. The deadline for nominations will beJuly 2003 (note that in Newsletter 23 the deadline was list-ed as October 2003 – this has been moved forward for theconference). Award winners will be announced at the ICV-3 Conference in October 2003.

As a reminder, the Awards categories are as follows:

• Water Applications (Watershed Protection/Improvement, Engineering – Natural and Constructed,Quality – Pollution Control and Treatment)

• Engineering/Infrastructure Protection• Land Reclamation• Dissemination• Country Vetiver Award• Farmer/User Awards – Regional (Asia, Africa, Latin

America)• Other• Vetiver “Champion”

Refer to Newsletter 23, Page 4 for details or check theVetiver Network Homepage <www.vetiver.org>. vv

THIRD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON

VETIVER & EXHIBITION (ICV-3) The Vetiver Network is pleased to announce the Third

International Vetiver Conference in Guanzhou,Guangdong Province, in southern China from October 6to 9, 2003. The theme of the conference is ‘Vetiver andWater’ and the focus will be on the Vetiver System’s (VS)application to improve water quality and distribution in theenvironment. Topics will include application of VS for:runoff control, groundwater recharge, erosion control andslope stabilization, pollution control and water quality pro-tection, purification of landfill and mining leachates, earth-work stabilization, plant production, extension strategies,and other grasses for water and soil conservation. Theconference is being organized to focus on the needs ofusers of VS by concentrating on providing informationand site visits to see applications and generate discus-sion to will help guide the practioner.

It is anticipated that participants from over 30 coun-tries will attend. The conference will be conducted inEnglish with simultaneous translation to and fromChinese. A conference announcement and registrationform is posted on the Vetiver Network Homepage and at<www.ICV-3.com>. Information can also be obtained at:ICV-3 Office, Guangdong Academy of AgriculturalSciences, Wushan, Guangzhou 510640, tel: 86-20-85514259; fax: 86-20-87503358; Email: <[email protected]>. vv

KING OF THAILAND VETIVER

AWARDS ANNOUNCED

Note address change for nominations:The Vetiver Network

709 Briar RoadBellingham, WA 98225

USA


Through the generosity of theWilliam H. Donner Foundation,

TVN awarded grants totaling $45,000for research on water-related aspectsof vetiver. TVN funded up to 50% of theproposed research, with the remaining50% provided by the recipients. Above(Table 1) is a table with a brief summa-ry of the proposals that were funded. vv

NEW TVN CD-ROMAVAILABLE

TVN has a new CD-ROM availablefor US$15 (including mailing). This

CD contains amongst other files, thecomplete TVN website and all its asso-ciated files as of 1 April 2002. This CDcontains practically everything weknow about vetiver and is fully illustrat-ed with color images. The CD alsoincludes Dr. P.K. Yoon’s “Look See at

Vetiver” which Dick Grimshaw still con-siders the best compilation available ofvetiver basics and research. Alsoincluded are the excellent posters onthe VS prepared by Paul Truong forthe Bonn Water Conference inGermany and a Vetiver Workshop inAustralia. The printer-ready version ofthe VS brochure that was published in2001 is also on the CD. If you wouldlike a copy, please send a US$ checkor money order to: The VetiverNetwork, 709 Briar Rd, Bellingham,WA 98225 USA. vv

THE VETIVER NETWORK

DISCUSSION BOARD

In January 2002, a TVN DiscussionBoard was initiated so that users

could share their experiences, askquestions and receive answers fromexperienced users, and discuss a widerange of topics relevant to the applica-tion of VS. There are twelve topicareas, with discussions, archived onthe site:

• Vetiver Grass Agronomy &Taxonomy;• VS for EnvironmentalProtection, including prevention offloods, landslides, & mining recla-mation, carbon dioxide sequester-ing;• VS for Engineering SiteApplications;• Vetiver Grass NurseryPlanting Techniques, Propagation& General Management Issues;• Vetiver Grass Sales Outlets;• VS for Soil & WaterConservation & Erosion Control;• VS Technology TransferIssues & Networking;• VS for Beach, Canal,Drainage & River BankStabilization;• VS for Ground WaterImprovement • VS for Waste WaterImprovement & Other WaterQuality Issues;• Other Uses of Vetiver Grass;and• Other Technologies;

The discussion board can beaccessed via TVN’s Homepage ordirectly at <www.vetiver.org/discus > vv

TENTATIVE PROGRAM OF

INTERNATIONAL TRAINING

COURSE ON VETIVER

HANDICRAFT-MAKING

The Pacific Rim Vetiver Network(PRVN) is developing a two week

training course on production of handi-craft items.

The course will include severaldays devoted to the preparation of rawmaterials and tools needed, more thana week for learning how to producedvetiver handicraft products (such asboxes, trays, hats and baskets), andfinally information on finishing and dec-orating products.

The course has not yet beenscheduled, but if you are interestedplease contact PRVN at: Office of theRoyal Development Projects Board, 78Rajdamnern Nok Ave., Dusit, Bangkok

Project Recipient Total Grant

Use of Vetiver (Vetiveria zizanioides) with Leguminous Species for the Conservation and Recovery of Soils.

Ing. Luis A. Arevalo, International Center for Research in Agroforesty (ICRAF), Peru

$ 9,000.00

Utilization of Vetiver for Treating Acid Mine Drainage Treatment

Dr. W.S. Shu, Associate Professor, School of Life Science, Zhongshan University, Guangzhou, China

$ 6,536.00

Relation Between Fats and Vetiver Grass and Counter-measures

Mr. Chen Shangwen, Researcher, Forestry College, Nanning University, Nanning, China

$ 1,720.00

Vetiver System For Erosion Control in the Central Highlands, Vietnam

Dr. Pham Hong Duc Phuoc, Department of Plant Physiology, University of Agriculture and Forestry, Thu Duc, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

$ 5,300.00

A Study on Purification of Vetiver Man-made Wetland for Industrial Wastewater

Dr. Xia Hanping, Associate Professor, Centre for Ecological Research, South China Institute of Botany, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China

$ 8,000.00

Vetiver Grass Technology for Wave and Current Erosion Control in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Dr. Le Viet Dung, Department of Crop Science, University of Can Tho, Vietnam

$ 6,800.00

Assistance to Vietnam Donner Research Grant Projects

Dr. Paul Truong, Principal Soil Conservationist, Natural Resource Sciences, Brisbane, Australia

$ 3,000.00

Study on the Effectiveness of Vetiver Hedges in Reducing Sediment and Pesticide Movement from Agricultural Lands

Mr. Edison Purba, Lecture, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Sumatra Utara, Indonesia

$ 2,725.00

Growing Vetiver in the Polluted Water: Generating Income for the Poor in Peri-Urban Areas

Mr. Yudi Widodo, MSc., Senior Agronomist, Research Institute for Legume and Tuber Crops, Malang, Indonesia

$ 2,150.00

$45,231.00

Table 1. Summary of research projects funded by the William F. Donner Foundationthrough TVN’s research program.

DONNER FOUNDATION

RESEARCH GRANTS –UPDATE


10300, Thailand, Fax: (66-2) 280-6206, 629-8915, Email:<[email protected]> vv

THE VETIVER WEBSITE: HOW USEFUL IS IT?ACCESSING WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT

VETIVER

Our webmaster, Dick Grimshaw, has been operatingand keeping TVN's website up-to-date for several

years now. The website has become our most importantrepository of information. There, you will literally find everybit of information we have received that can be published inelectronic format and it is all indexed and searchable. But,do people use it? The answer to that is "yes". We know itbecause of the volume of queries we get where people tellus that they found us through the website. We know itbecause the TVN website is referenced or linked on hun-dreds of web pages put up by universities, research cen-ters, NGOs, government agencies, individuals, etc. We canalso tell from the domain report which identifies the originsof visitors to this site by the suffix of their domain name andby our website report that gives a summary of the generalstatistics for the entire web site during the report time frame.For those of you who are interested:

Between October 31, 2001 and April 28, 2002 , the fol-lowing number (see Tables 2 and 3) of requests and volumeof information was transferred from <www.vetiver.org> topeople from 21,190 different "hosts" or internet servers. vv

Photo 4. Erosion control mat madefrom vetiver leaves commercially pro-duced in Sri Lanka.

Photo credit: Paul Truong

Photo 3. Madam Zhang Jinhas started a handicraft busi-ness using vetiver products inFujian, China.

Photo credit: Liyu XuPhoto 2. Some vetiver products pro-duced as part of Fundacion Polar’svetiver Projects in Venezuela.

Photo credit: Fundacion Polar

NEW VETIVER PRODUCTS:

Successful server requests 292,666

Total data transferred 7.18 GBytes

Total data transferred in last 7 days

263.34 MBytes

Location Of Requesting

Server # of

Requests Most Active Countries

Unknown, Total

219,374

Europe 20,940 France (4,166) & Italy (3,918)

East Asia 11,893 Thailand (3,177) & Taiwan (2,232)

Latin America & Caribbean

11,547 Mexico (2,716) & Brazil (2,455)

North America 10,654 USA (7,434)

Oceania 8,453 Australia (6,033)

South Asia 4,173 India (3,880)

Africa 2,551 South Africa (1,182)

Mediterranean 2,271 Portugal (1,915)

Middle East 810 Israel (422)

Total 292,666

Table 2 (above). Number of requests received onHomepage for VS information (between 31October 2001 and 28 April 2002).

Table 3 (below). Summary of origin and number ofrequests for VS information by region and mostinquisitive countries.


PUBLICATIONS

“VETIVER GRASS - AN

ESSENTIAL GRASS FOR THE

CONSERVATION OF PLANET

EARTH”The above titled book is ready for

publication authored by vetiver expertJohn C. Greenfield summarizingvetiver’s history; the problems of ero-sion and degradation; its use (amongothers) as a plant for agricultural uses,erosion control and bioengineering,and environmental protection; world-wide experiences; potential for com-mercialization; propagation strategies;planning a country-wide vetiver pro-gram; a photographic summary; pestsand diseases of vetiver; and a compre-hensive index.

The book will be available inAugust 2002 (US$19.95 plus shipping)from:

Infinity Publishing.Com519 West Lancaster Avenue

Haverford, PA 19041-1413 USA<infinitypublishing.com> or

<www.buybooksontheweb.com>fax: 610-519-0261

It should be available fromAmazon.com and BarnsandNoble.comin late November or December. vv

PUBLICATIONS FROM THE

OFFICE OF THE ROYAL

DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

BOARD IN THAILAND

ICV-2 Proceedings

The Office of the RoyalDevelopment Projects Board (RDPB)(in Thailand) has announced the publi-cation of the “Proceedings of theSecond International Conference onVetiver” held at Cha-am, Phetchaburi,Thailand, 18-22 January 2000.

The 482-page ICV-2 Proceedingsinclude an Executive Summary, theKeynote Address papers given by thewinners of of the King of ThailandVetiver Award, all the presentationsmade including “Experience in Putting

Together Country-wide VetiverPrograms: Policy Issues, Expectationsand Results”; “Vetiver and NaturalDisaster”; “Soil and Water Attributes”;Pollution Control and Treatment/Restoration and Rehabilitation ofDisturbed and Contaminated Areas;Disaster Prevention; Training andTechnology Dissemination; BasicResearch and General Studies; andAlternative Uses and Socio-economicValues of Vetiver. The Proceedingsare indexed by author and subject.

The Utilization of Vetiver as aMedicinal and Aromatic Plant withSpecial Reference to Thailand

By Narong Chomchalow, AssumptionUniversity Bangkok, Thailand -Publication of the Pacific Rim VetiverNetwork (PRVN) Technical Bulletin No.2001/1, September 2001.

This publication highlights the uti-lization of vetiver in traditional medi-cine, in pest control, and as a fragrantplant. Research on production ofvetiver oil and reserach and develop-ment on the industrial potential ofvetiver in Thailand are also described.The publication includes discussionson vetiver planting, environmentalimplications, socio-economic aspects,and industrial potentials.

Development of the Vetiver Systemin Guangdong, China

By Xia Hanping - RestorationEcologist, South China Institute ofBotany, Guangzhou, Guangdong,China - Publication of the PRVNTechnical Bulletin No. 2001/3,December 2001.

(Excerpt from abstract) During thepast 11 years, research on vetiver andthe VS has made a great progress inGuangdong [China], and initiated anew concept, named ‘Vetiver Eco-engineering’. Its demonstrations andapplication have also been extendedinto numerous fields such as reservoirsand rivers, highway slopes, landfills,quarries, mined land, and even cityparks from its original use in soil andwater conservation in agricultural. Inrecent years, there have been moreinstitutions, agencies, and the privatesector in Guangdong engaged in VS

research and application resulting in arapid development of the VS in thisprovince. On the whole, developmentin VS has been most rapid inGuandong as compared with otherprovinces of China.

Copies of the three above publica-tions may be requested from:

The International Affairs SectionThe Office of the Royal Development

Projects Board78 Rajdamnern Nok Ave.

Dusit, Bangkok 10300, ThailandEmail: <[email protected]>

“VETIVERIA: THE GENUS

VETIVERIA”

Abook has been recently publishedon the genus Vetiveria. Massimo

Maffei, a plant physiologist and Headof the Department of Plant Biology atthe University of Turin, Italy, has editeda publcation of nine chapters, authoredby twelve experts. The book describesthe anatomy, physiology, biochemistry,essential oil biogenesis and chemicalcomposition, distillation as well as pro-duction of plants for essential oil pro-duction and the use of vetiver as anecological tool against erosion, soilpollution and many other applications.

The book can be ordered online atAmazon.com <www.amazon.com> orcontact the publisher directly at:

Antonio UpaliMarketing Assistant

Taylor & Francis11 New Fetter LaneLondon EC4P 4EE

United KingdomFax: +44 (0) 20 78422300

Phone for credit card orders:+44 (0) 1264 343071

VETIVER & ROADSFrom Mr. Chai Yangsong, HighwayDirector of Fujian Province, China (for-warded to TVN by The China VetiverNetwork)

Thank you very much for your con-cern on the highway greening of ourprovince. As a worldwide-recognizedgrass, vetiver is an ideal plant for soilerosion control and fertility recovery.We have done our best to popularizethe technology in the highway institu-tions in our province. The cities likeFuzhou and Nanping have planted thegrass for major highways on a largescale since 1998, and Quanzhou andNingde Cities have been planting since1999. There are over one million tillersplanted, most of them around nationalhighway No. 316. On highwayembankments planted with vetivergrass, slopes were stabilized and ero-sion was controlled.

Vetiver technology achieved goodresults in stabilizing slopes accordingto the application in our province. Inthe next stage our Bureau will popular-ize vetiver technology continuously. Ihope to get your valuable commentsand you are welcome to visit Fujianand provide more instruction to thehighway greening of our province.

(Note: Fujian Province was the firstprovince in China to use VetiverSystem [VS] for highway embankmentstabilization. The HighwayAdministrative Bureau released an offi-cial document in 1998 requesting engi-neers and technicians of all cities/pre-fectures and counties of the provinceto study VS, read the paper“Application of Vetiver Technology forEngineering Purposes”, and collectand share experiences in order toextend VS more rapidly and smoothly.The document was prepared by theChina Vetiver Network based on DitiHengchaovanich’s technical publica-tion by the Royal ProjectsDevelopment Board in Thailand)

VETIVER & TEAFrom P. Haridas, Deputy GeneralManager R&D, Tata Tea Limited,Kerala State, India

I wish to inform you that I havebeen receiving the Vetiver Newsletterthrough your kind cooperation. I foundthe information contained therein ofimmense value for our tea plantations(Tata Tea Limited). I have introducedvetiver for soil and moisture conserva-tion in our estates situated in theWestern Ghats of India. Recently Ihave been transferred to our headoffice at Calcutta and I have startedusing vetiver in our Assam tea planta-tions. After going through your articlesand the work in different parts of theworld, I have no doubt that vetiver canbe a powerful solution for soil erosionin our tea gardens. Is it not a coinci-dence that this grass was reported asthe best soil conservation plant in teaby T. Eden way back in the 1940s?! Iwas convinced about its utility when Isaw it in Sri Lanka in early 2000.

VETIVER & HANDICRAFTSFrom Sudhakar Hegde, Agriculturalist- India

I am a vetiver farmer from India. Igrow vetiver in unused lands for oilproduction. I am also makingfootwear, caps, bags and handicraftitems from vetiver. I came to know thata root length up to 2m can be harvest-ed in 13 months.

VETIVER IN SAGALA, KENYAFrom Eric Jolliffe, Peace CorpsVolunteer, Sagala via Voi

Thanks for the long awaited infor-mation about [vetiver] nutrition. Nowthe livestock officers will have a littlemore respect for this grass. There arerumors around here that cows will noteat it. This should stop all that.

The vetiver grass we received inSagala from Kisii is achieving a 52%survival rate in the main nursery here(674 of 1220 splits are living and thriv-ing). The rest died for any number ofreasons. Thankfully, Mr. Essau

Mwanganda (nobody has done morefor this grass in this district than he)had more vetiver grass plants ready forsale now than I originally knew about.We are also close to taking the finalmeasurements in an experiment oncorn and vetiver intercropping.

On the lighter side, we are also“signing up” balding guys aroundSagala to test a vetiver grass“Rogaine” concoction. So far, I thinkwe have 6 men who are enthusiasticabout trying it. I certainly hope thereare no side effects! Essau claims to beusing the instructions from one of yourpast newsletters for this concoction. Ifit works, we’re onto something BIG.Essau always gets a lot of laughswhen he makes the claim about hairrestoration.

If people ask you where in Kenyathey can find commercially availablevetiver grass, refer them to Sagalanear Voi in the Taita Taveta District.Essau, Mary Gonah, and RebeccaMaindi currently have grass avilablefor sale. The Mrura/Latah Nurseryvetiver grass will be commerciallyavailable in January [2002]. For a 51%survival rate, we sure have a lot of it!Nobody there has e-mail yet, butArthur Maindi, Anthony Nyatta,Florence Juma, Evans Mwakya, andJoeseph Mwanganda are the bestpeople to contact.

Most of the people in Sagala whorecieved a portion of the Novembervetiver shipment from Kisii, and whoalready had vetiver grass use it asboundaries around their small gar-dens. They like its soil moisture reten-tion properties. It has become arevered and wanted grass, rivalingnapier in its popularity.

DISCOVERING VETIVER IN ST.KITTS, LESSER ANTILLES

Letter sent to Katrin Scholz-Barth[USA] from Martin Lowell, LesserAntilles

…I am making progress on thevetiver project. The grass is wellknown here and is called Kush Kush orArrow grass. Today I met with the

LETTERS


Sugar Corporation man in charge ofthe soil conservation program. We dis-cussed the projects I have in mind forOttleys and surrounding areas. Itoured their vetiver nursery and theyoffered me as much as I want. I alsotoured several other areas where thereare extensive plantings. They mayeven help with the labour needed to dothe project.

I have surveyed the areas aroundOttleys a bit more thoroughly in the lastweek and am very excited about theproject. I am departing for the US[soon] and am working to have vetiverin the ground in key vulnerable areasbefore I depart. This includes the areawe walked below the pond and also inthe cut in our rainforest where I want itto trap sediments in the runoff waterwhich periodically flows through thearea. I am nursing 35 plants right nowin pots so they will have some strengthbefore they get planted in the darkerforest areas.

Thank you so much for turning meon to vetiver. We are really going toaccomplish something useful wtih thisplant. I’ll keep you posted.

MULTIPLE PURPOSE VETIVER

IN SURINAMEFrom Dr. H.L. van de Lande,Department of Biology and Chemistry,Anton de Kom University, Paramaribo,Suriname, South America

I received the package with thevetiver information early this week andwent through practically all of it andhave become even more enthusiasticabout the wealth of application possi-bilities [of vetiver] for Suriname. I havea small ongoing program in sustain-able agriculture at the University andwith the PRODAGRIS Foundation.Within this sustainable agriculture pro-gram I started up a biopesticides pro-gram (begun with neem). I have beenlooking for an intercrop for the neemwhich could be planted under extremeconditions. I have started plantingneem trees as part of a rehabilitation ofmined-out areas (bauxite). Vetiverlooks like the perfect answer for thatpurpose.

I also see excellent applicationpossibilities for erosion control in riverbanks and roadsides along rivers(which are flooded especially in therainy season). I have seen it growingin some Maroon villages, where it wasmost probably introduced for hedgeplanting and erosion control in sandyareas. Apparently no follow-up wasgiven.

The general objective is to lay thebasis for the promotion of the use ofvetiver: erosion control, water manage-ment, pesticide development, rehabili-tation of mined out areas (gold mining!)and leached-out areas, application asroofing material, handicraft develop-ment (with Maroons and Amerindians).

VETIVER AND EXPORT CROPSFrom David Harvey, Agriflora SmallScale Cooperative Scheme, Lusaka -Zambia

Currently I am working for‘Agriflora Small Scale’, providing agro-nomical advice for small-scale farmersgrowing vegetables for the export mar-ket in Europe, South Africa and theUSA. I had tried vetiver with great suc-cess in the northern province, and nowwe are to introduce it to our farmers.We currently have 470 farmers in 9cooperatives and will set up centralnurseries at each coop with lead farm-ers. Intially [vetiver] will be used forfield boundaries and field subdivisions.The commercial rose growing opera-tion has also being eyeing our nurseryand will be planting vetiver around thenursery to stop dust and heat cominginto the green houses and affectingrose yields.

VETIVER & PESTS/DISEASESFrom Mark Dafforn, Research Officer,U.S. National Academy of Sciences,Washington, DC - USA in response toMr. Hervé Lapierre, France

Mike Pease of the European andMediterranean Vetiver Network for-warded [an inquiry] on aphids, mealybugs, and virus disease in vetiver, inresponse to the sentence contained inthe paper of Morakul, et al. in the ICV-2 ‘Preceedings’ which reads, “Perhaps

the most serious pests are aphids andmealy bugs”.

As you probably know, vetivergrass has proven to be notably unaf-fected by pests and plagues. Thisdoes not seem to be a transient obser-vation. The heritage of agronomicknowledge about vetiver is deep, as ithas been cultivated for thousands ofyears.

In response to your particularquestion, I am unaware of any insect-mediated viral disease causing anotable infestation in vetiver. In thepast ten years, no viral diebacks havebeen reported to TVN. I havesearched the recent literature (notablyCABI and AGRICOLA, plus www.vetiv-er.org), and found no relevant refer-ences among the 300+ vetiver cita-tions within the past 20 years.Pathologists working in the US,Australia, Taiwan, China, Thailand,South Africa, Mauritius, and other loca-tions have not indicated virus diseasein vetiver. Most intriguing, the Animaland Plant Health Inspection Service(APHIS) of the US Department ofAgriculture has run a number of vetiveraccessions through phytosanitaryquarantine. These were all clonalmaterial, and came from every conti-nent but Australia (this material hasbeen screened separately by theAustralians). Vegetatively propagatedgrasses, as you know, tend to serve asviral magnets and long-term reposito-ries of viral infestations. APHIS hasnot detected any viral pathogens in the14 accessions screened thus far usingstandard analytical techniques.

This apparent lack of viruses invetiver is remarkable and worthy of fur-ther investigation. One can only spec-ulate that vetiver contains an effectivearray of antiviral substances.Nonetheless, this observation tends tosupport the position that aphids andmealybugs do not serve as notablevectors for viral diseases in vetiver.

For your information, probably themost complete census of insects onvetiver was made by Chen Shangwenof Guangxi University in Nanning,China. It can be found at:



NETWORK NEWS

<www.vetiver.org/AGR_insects.htm>.

Finally, in 1996 I presented apaper that included a discussion onvetiver as a potential disease vector:

The main pest-and-plague problemsreported with vetiver have been few:fungal dieback from Helminthosporiumand Bipolaris, bacterial leaf blight fromXanthomonas, sooty molds such asMeliola, stem borers and white grubs,

maize cyst and root-knot nematodes,termites, and rats. The genus is sus-ceptible to smuts from Tilletiaceae andfrom Ustilaginaceae. This is availableon-line at <http://user.aol.com/vetiver-net/vip/vipthai1.htm>. vv

MEXICO (MEXVN)Ana María le Moing, Apdo. Postal124, Oaxaca, Oax., CP 68000 -México; Tel/fax: (52) 951 43494;Email:<[email protected]>

We present here a short report ofthe main activities and results

obtained during the last 6 months. Forclimatic and budget reasons this peri-od consists mainly in preparing for thenext rainy season when planting cantake place, and government funds areavailable for supporting the projects.

Promotion in Various Sectors

Private Sector. Organization of aone week field tour and negotiationwith the staff of a firm (INARMEX) whodecided to include vetiver in its panelof solutions for highways and watercourses stabilization.

Following up of the negotiationsinitiated by Nick Dolphin withBANAMEX, an agreement wasreached to make a first test in highwaystabilization project; a 6.000 m2 stretchwill be protected.

Negotiations are on course with aprivate enterprise “Erosion ControlServices” to install a nursery in theState of Zacatecas with the purpose ofprotecting roads, mining lands anddams.

Negotiations with several landowners (mainly in the State ofVeracruz) are underway to producevetiver on a large scale to respond tothe increasing demand for plants.

Institutional & CommunitySector. Through the Program for theConservation and Restoration of Soils(PCERS), two projects are active. The

first one, in a nature reserve (Lagunasde Chacahua, Coast region), com-bines VS and other engineering sys-tems, for protecting agricultural landagainst river flooding and involvescommunities, SEMARNAT (FederalDepartment for Natural Resources)and CNA (National Commission forWater). The second one, in collabora-tion of the State Department ofAgriculture is to restore a degradedarea for reforestation around a damnear Oaxaca. In both cases, localnurseries were established to obtainenough material to be planted in thesite at the next rainy season.

With the NGO LASOS, a commu-nity project is being expanded with thesupport of SEMARNAT in the Mixe forprotection of irrigation installations andfarmer’s land. In the Coast (Pochutla),communities have been producing andusing vetiver for more than threeyears, and now are working on a “terri-tory management” process which willinclude reforestation, ecologicaltourism, etc. The research sector,SEMARNAT and, possibly soon,SAGARPA (agriculture ministry) areinvolved. A one week training with twoweeks of on-site follow-up was carriedout.

First contacts have been made forproviding technical assistance to theSEMARNAT office (responding to theirdemand) in the State of San LuisPotosí. They want to install nurseriesand make tests on degraded lands toallow for reforestation.

Promotion of VS is to be includedby municipalities in their developmentprograms. Participatory developmentof a practical manual for NaturalResources Management, and directtraining and planning events with the

local councils in the Cañada and Istmoregions have been agreed.

LASOS, in the Coastal Region, isfollowing up on a project in road pro-tection in Potchutla involving themunicipality and SCT (Communicationand Transport Federal Secretariat) andanother one in Huatulco with the StateDepartment for Tourism.

Civil Organizations. Throughexisting networks, promotion of VS hasbeen done with several NGO´s whowork with farmers and rural groups inthe States of Oaxaca, Puebla,Tlaxcala, Veracruz and Querretaro.We have agreed to install a nurseryand demonstration barriers in a strate-gic conservation region in the north ofOaxaca, incorporating vetiver in a vastagroforestry project supported by GEF,SEMARNAT and international founda-tions such as Ford, MacArthur andKellogg.

We received and trained, a Dutchvolunteer working with a civil organiza-tion on erosion control with ruralgroups in the State of Guanajuato (SanMiguel de Allende). She is now doingthe first promotion work there and weexpect to have some news soon.

Vetiver Network Development inMexico

The main activity has been themaintenance and improvement of theweb page (which still needs some workto be perfect!), and developing thecontacts through several channels, asmentioned before.

Other Activities

Networking. We continue with anactive participation in PCERS manage-ment and activities. As PCERS has no


external funds, we are in a process ofdiscussion to distribute the functionsbetween each member. The MexicanVetiver Network would mainly assumethe communication and technicalassistance activities in coordinationwith the agronomy research institute ofOaxaca, in this new scheme.

Promotion & Dissemination. Weare working to fund and develop avideo for the promotion of VS, specifi-cally in agriculture land protection andcontinue to disseminate existing docu-ments, using a combination of TVNand local material (photos, articles,field visits and testimonials), informa-tion and training events.

Funding. We have negotiatedfunds from SEMARNAT for the Mixegroup, with LASOS providing theplants. In exchange, the group provid-ed maintenance to LASOS’s nurseryand received the Dutch volunteer forher training.

We obtained funds from SEMAR-NAT for the elaboration of the video,(US$1,100) which contributes up tohalf the cost.

Conclusion

The current activities should leadto concrete products during the nextrainy season.

The main difficulty we encounteris the complexity of the network ofenterprises and government officesinvolved in civil engineering projects,amplified by the political and economiccontext.

A high priority is to develop thecapacity to nursery vetiver in order torespond to the growing demand. vv

COSTA RICA (CRVN)Linda Moyher, Apdo. 1, Paraíso 1-7100, Costa Rica; Email:<[email protected]>

The demand for vetiver in CostaRica is growing and our nursery

has been expanded. Major buyers thisyear have been the sanitary landfill inSan José and one of the Chiquita

banana plantation in Siquirres.

We plan to plant a new nursery inTurrialba to serve the Guayabo areathat was hard hit by storms in May.

CRVN is looking for a volunteerwilling to spend a few weeks working inthe new nursery and several “probono” planting projects. Room andboard provided. Spanish helpful butnot necessary. Strong back and toughhands required. vv

LATIN AMERICAN VETIVER

NETWORK (LAVN)Prof. Oscar Rodriguez, Apdo. 5115,El Limón-Maracay 2105, Venezuela;Telfax: (58) 043 831734;Email: <[email protected]>

I have in mind to develop an onlinecourse on vetiver as a free introduc-

tory guide to potential users and inter-ested persons. I think this is the easi-est way to reach many people andshare basic knowledge and terminolo-gy on vetiver potential and applica-tions.

I will try to transform the formerworkshops I conducted into an onlinecourse. The course developed inThailand can also be a source formaterial. There is the possibility oforganizing a small international meet-ing or course in Venezuela, inviting keypersons (4 or 5) to develop particulartopics of interest on vetiver. FundacionPolar, has started some vetiver proj-ects with social, economic and envi-ronmental goals. They have made alot of progress in a year, so they wantto give technical and scientific supportto organizing the mentioned meeting.vv

ECUADOR (ECUATIVER)Piet Sabbe, Escuela de CienciasAgrícolas y Ambientales (ECAA),PUCE - Ibarra, Avenida Jorge Guzmany Pólit, Ibarra - Ecuador;Email:<[email protected] >

We had to overcome a lot of obsta-cles before we got the vetiver

Project in Esmeraldas set up. Now,vetiver is planted in the nursery of the

University (2 hectares). This nurseryshould provide us about 1,800,000new slips for future projects, in about10 months. In collaboration withIngeConsult, and the Municipality, asite near the town has been selectedfor direct planting. We had plantedalready a small amount on another site(Barrio 20 de Noviembre) in December2001, but that failed because of thesevere drought and destruction bylocal people.

Mr. Aguayo of IngeConsult hasbeen doing a very fine job with hisreport “Plan de Control de Riesgos.”[Risk Control Plan].

He recommends to work in water-sheds, where vetiver should be usedto:

• control run-off (planted in hedges);• stabilize the soil (hedges) (in some

occasions it can be used to sup-port concrete swales and chan-nels); and

• recover the soil with vegetation (asa pioneer plant), in combinationwith trees and shrubs.

In recent weeks Fundaciòn Natura(FN) has been [requested] byPetroecuador to set up a reforestationprogram. [This] could be a way toshow the efficiency of the VS to futuresponsors. Nothing has been put onpaper yet, but both FN and theMunicipality are strongly in favor ofusing vetiver. vv

PERUDr. Julio Alegre, Av. La Universidad795 La Molina, Apartado 1558, Lima -PERU, Tel: (51) 1 3486017 Ext: 2117,Fax: (51) 1 3495638, Email:<[email protected]>

ICRAF (International Centre forResearch in Agroforestry) members,Julio Alegre, Luis Arevalo, AbelMeza and Nelly Luque are undertak-ing some research with vetiver andtree crops using Donner Foundationfunds. The research site is located inPucallpa. Vetiveria has been planted indouble contour rows with peach palm(Bactris gasipaes) and Inga edulis (icecream beans) or guava for fruit, fire-


wood and nutrient recycling. vv

TANZANIA (TZVN)Anthony Makoye, P.O. Box 31050,Dar es Salaam - Tanzania;Email:<[email protected] >

Towards the end of year 2001 vari-ous inquiries were received from

regional authorities, mainly from Northand Western Tanzania, for informationon how they could control soil erosion,land degradation in the mining areasand control siltation in lake areas in aneffective and low cost manner. Inresponse we undertook to explain tothem how vetiver grass could bedeployed to curb such situations.Kigoma regional authorities (Kigomatown is on the eastern shores of LakeTanganyika) approached TAVEN tocarry out a detailed study with costestimates as to how they can arrest thesituation. The central drainage chan-nel and other town infrastructure likethe railway station, play grounds, etc.are full of silt which is hindering the effi-cient use; Lake Tanganyika is experi-encing serious uncontrolled siltationwhich will soon obstruct navigation,anchoring and fishing activities; andthe Tanzania Electric Supply Co. Ltd(TANESCO) has fuel reservoirs [tanks]near the lake which drip fuel on theground which then seeps undergroundinto the lake causing pollution andthreatening marine life.

These problems, according to theauthorities, need to be addressedimmediately. Our quick evaluation, werequire about US$35,000. A projectproposal was submitted to donors,through the National Environmentalmanagement Council (NEMC)

Another inquiry was received fromKahama Mining Corporation, whichoperates a world-class gold mine atBulynhulu regarding the use of vetivergrass to control land degradation andreclamation. We made available tothem, 150,000 tillers of vetiver grassplants which are being used to controlerosion, mining spoils, helping torevegetate the mine slimes.

Early this year TANROADS(Tanzania Roads Agency) approached

us to find out how they could use vetiv-er grass to control spoiled roadsides,gullies, road-cuts and land fills. Theirapproach was based on the greenbooklets, “Vetiver the Hedge AgainstErosion” and “Nyasi Za Vetiva” (a pub-lication in the local language), theyobtained from TAVEN and were distrib-uted to all Regional EngineersTanzania mainland offices. They areactually planting vetiver grass to con-trol such erosion.

We see serious inclination by localpeople and institutions to adoptingvetiver grass technology in the country.Institutions like TANROADS, miningcompanies etc. have realized theeffectiveness of this technology.TAVEN is of the view that we embarkon serious promotion of this wondergrass by organizing seminars in thecountry. We have recently approachedour Tanzania Technology Transfer(TANT2), who in collaboration with theFaculty of Engineering, University ofDar es Salaam and supported by USFederal Highway Administration(FHA), carry out the task of improvingthe quality of road transport. TANT2has shown interest in jointly organizinga one-day seminar tentatively sched-uled for July/August 2002. We envis-age inviting various individuals, NGO’sinstitutions, agencies and are thinkingof inviting one resource person fromSouth Africa (SAVN), Mr. Duncan Hay,SAVN Co-coordinator.

Anthony also reports later...TheTanzanian government is now starting

to pick-up VS. Government ministriesare making many inquiries on its appli-cation. It is said 60% of Tanzania issemi-arid. The problems facing thesemi-arid areas include gully erosionand overgrazing, hundreds of thou-sands of cattle pound the earth. Thiscauses erosion, loss of top-soil coverand siltation of dams and other impor-tant water retaining structures.

This situation has frustrated gov-ernment initiatives towards dam con-struction, since dams silt up beforetheir economic time span. The sea-sonal rains are of short duration withhigh flow overtopping natural channelsand worsening erosion. A siltation rateof 1% per annum would be acceptable,(i.e. 100 years life span of a dam).However under the situation inTanzania, dams fill up within 5 to 10years.

It is intended to use VS as anationwide remedy to the problemusing Watershed CatchmentManagement Principles (WCMP).Starting with a pilot project in four dis-tricts in the republic of Tanzania name-ly, Monduli, Magu, Shinyanga Ruraland Kondoa. These are where smalland medium sized earth dams are inplace.

Note: Anthony requests from othervetiver networks and coordinators lit-erature and photos which may be ofuse to them. vv

RECENT VETIVER NETWORK NEWLSETTER PUBLICATIONS

Network Title Pacific Rim Vetiver Network Vetiverim 21 (July 2002) Venezuela Vetiver Network Boletín Vetiver de Venezuela

(No. 1 - May 2002) Southern Africa Vetiver Network

Vetiver (No. 10 - April 2002)

The European & Mediterranean Vetiver Network

EMVN Newsletter (No. 7 – June 2002)

Latin America Vetiver Network Boletin Vetiver (No. 10 - May 2002)

Malawi Vetiver Network Malawi Vetiver Newsletter (Volume 2, Issue 1 - June 2001)

Table 4. Some of the newsletters published in the last yearby Regional and Country Vetiver Networks. All can be foundon the TVN Homepage.

VETIVER HELPS PROTECT BEACH EROSION IN

BALIBy David Booth, Founder & Exec. Director, East Bali PovertyProject (EBPP), Denpasar, Bali - Indonesia

Since starting our first vetiver project to save our moun-tain village in March 2000, vetiver has also enabled us

to develop organic gardens for the children’s food and savemany steep dirt tracks from complete collapse.

Now I’d be grateful for your urgent advice on a newvetiver project we have here for a client whose new housefronts the beach, with a river coming in from the east side tothe sea. I am presently preparing a design, but am not surehow durable the vetiver will be when planted in “improved”sand when the high tides come next year. From experi-ence, it seems that we have about seven months before theseaward side will be challenged. Below I will describebriefly the two situations.

The beach-front side: 8 days ago, we trial planted 10vetiver polybags in the sand on the berm, in the followingway: 1) excavated the sand to 20cm below polybag, andmixed a handful of organic worm fertilizer with the sand, 2)cut the bottom of the polybag and firmly placed polybag onmixture, and back filled with sand, 3) gave gardener instruc-tions to water every evening after sunset, 4) checked 6 dayslater, and found roots had already extended by 5-7cm.

[Paul Truong has responded: Why did you only take outthe bottom of the polybags? I think you should take them

out of the bags completely as on sandy soil we need theshallow as well as the deep roots to hold back the soil. Inaddition the water supply on sand is vital so you shouldexpose as many roots to the moisture as possible.]

River bank side: Here I plan to follow the design fromthe CD-ROM with the perpendicular rows: along the con-tours, about 1.5-2 metres apart up the slope, and vertical toslow the flow. It seems the flow will never be very fierce, sowhat spacing would you suggest?

[Paul Truong has responded: How steep and how long isthe slope? On very steep slopes, 1.5 horizontal to 1 verti-cal, you may need to plant them 1m apart. You have todesign to take the flow at flood time or high flows, not nor-mal flow, it is very difficult to advise you from here but off thetop of my head, on good soil you can plant them 7-10mapart but on bends or erodible, sandy soil you must to go to5m apart.]

We introduced vetiver to Bali last May with our suc-cessful vetiver conference, thanks to Ed Balbarino [fromthe Philippines Vetiver Network], who was the key speaker.However, it is only in the last 8 months that we have hadstock to sell… [and] every week we get new inquiries. Weare now leading the way in Bali (and hopefully we can soonspread our knowledge throughout Indonesia and beyond) inadvising and planting vetiver in a whole range of applica-tions. However, we are also just learning, and whilst I thinkwe are the only organization with sufficient experience,knowledge and vetiver stock, I am keen that we can achievethe optimum benefit for our existing and new clients, andhence I am appealing for advice from the experts in USA,Philippines, Australia and Thailand. You have all, at onetime or another, been kind enough to advise us at the timeof our first vetiver purchase in March 2000.

I would be most grateful for comments and advice fromas many of you as possible, to help us spread the message,and hopefully pave the way for a much healthier and betterland through vetiver solutions, from which many can benefitin a sustainable way. vv

CHINA VETIVER AND AGROFORESTRY

TECHNOLOGY PROJECT LAUNCHED ON DABIE

MOUNTAIN IN CHINABy Prof. Liyu Xu, Coordinator, China Vetiver Network(CNVN), Nanjing - China

Atwo-year project started in October 2001 to run throughOctober 2003 was initiated in the Dabie Mountain area

of China (the boundary of three provinces: Anhui, Hubei,and Henan). Dabie Mountain is at 90 -1,700m above sealevel with a total area near 100,000 km2. The DabieMountain area forms one of the poorest regions of the coun-try. In the recent years, increased interests in commercial

Photo 5 and 6. Photos taken less than 2 months after plant-ing vetiver along a beach in Bali. “The power of vetiver isreally showing itself after less than 2 months. We are allmarvelling at the speed of growth and strength of the roots.”

Photo credit: David Booth

COUNTRY REPORTS


tree production has cleared vegetation, built earth terracesand planted tea, mulberry and chestnut trees, etc. on alarge scale. This has lead to erosion and soil fertility prob-lems and resulted in siltation of reservoirs and flooding. Theproject is:

• Introducing and raising awareness of soil and naturalresources protection and the importance of VS in ero-sion control and sustainable agriculture, earth work sta-bilization, disaster prevention, sustainable farming, andother multiple uses among policy makers, farmers,extension workers and technicians in the DabieMountains;

• Introducing and extending proper agroforestry technolo-gy, such as hedgerow intercopping of vetiver-chestnut-wheat system; nitrogen-fixing trees, shrubs, and plants;contour planting technology, crop diversity for erosioncontrol, etc.;

• Generating income by establishing high quality com-mercial trees and vegetables on terraces protected withvetiver, silkworm production, small animal husbandry,mushroom cultivation, and handicraft production, etc;

• Increasing food production by developing electricalpumping systems, intercropping of commercial tree withcrops, reasonable application of fertilization based onsoil and crop sample analysis;

• Helping women improve social and economic conditionby training and demonstration on silkworm raising, teaproduction, and handicrafts production with vetiverpruning;

Extending the above technologies and experiences tothe whole Dabie Mountain area through multiple activities. vv

PROJECT FOR MOUNTAIN REVEGETATION

LAUNCHED IN NANJING, CHINABy Prof. Liyu Xu, Coordinator, China Vetiver Network(CNVN), Nanjing - China

To speed up the re-vegetation of Mofu Mountain withvetiver, a new project was launch in Nanjing, China.Situated in the northern part of Nanjing City, the mountainhas an area of 7,040 km2. The existing problems have beencaused by quarrying. The mountain is covered by rock frag-ments, rubbish, and sediment that was excavated from alake. Following the expansion of the city and economicdevelopment it is urgent to green up the disordered moun-tain. However, bad ecological conditions [make it difficult]for most of the plants to survive. The Vice Mayor asked theMountain Landscape Management Office to contact theChina Vetiver Network and plant vetiver. The projectincludes [treatment of]:

• fragments left by quarrying;• sediments coming from [excavation of the] lake;• rocky areas;• parent rock.

For the fragments and sediments fill, bare-root vetiverwas contour planted with a spacing one meter betweenrows. For the rocky and stony areas, vetiver in containerswill be planted. For parent rock sites that contain neithersoil nor rock fragments holes will be excavated and thencontainer-raised vetiver planted into the holes. The basicsoil and ecological properties will be studied and recorded.The project will last one year.

The present project attracts wide interest in correspon-dents and reporters. The project was shown in the news-paper such as Nanjing Daily and Jingling Evening. vv

SWAZILAND FARMER DEVELOPMENT

FOUNDATION VETIVER DEMONSTRATION SITEReview by Rob Mackenzie, Swaziland Farmer DevelopmentFoundation (SFDF), Manzini - Swaziland

Following is an edited version of the more interestingvetiver demonstration sites featured in an April 2002

review by the Swaziland Farmer Development Foundation.

Dvokodvweni Community Dam – Malindza

Project: Siltation control at a small community dam witha large catchment area and long steep stream. The plant-ed areas are protected from cattle. Two double lines ofvetiver were planted across the flow line on 7 Sept 2000.

Establishment was good, even in seasonally water-logged areas. By mid October, vetiver growth was inhibitedby weed growth and by late November weed growth wassmothering the vetiver. In the main flow line, vetiver wasburied and washed away. Canopy thinning of trees shadingthe lower vetiver lines was necessary. Weeding was verydifficult once vetiver had been smothered, especially inwaterlogged areas. The hedges responded well to weedingand canopy thinning in January.

The portions in the flow line, washed away or buried bystorm flows, were replanted and a third hedge planted nearthe waterline in March. The flow lines were planted withvetiver in poly-bags and strips protected by sandbags. Thesandbags were not adequately tied into the banks and flowfrom a late storm went around the protective sand bagswashing out some vetiver.

The third hedge near the waterline …is not developingwell because of competition, primarily from self-sown bul-rush (Typha latifolia), which is well established in places.

On May 5, a 1.5m concrete sill was constructed to pro-tect the flow line in the uppermost sill and vetiver stripsplanted behind.

By mid-August, the dam water levels were 1.5m belowfull supply level and with little winter rain, the area was verydry. There had been considerable grazing by livestock.The dam fencing had been damaged by storm flows early


last season but had only recently been repaired. All vetiverhad survived. Later plantings were not thriving but will sur-vive until the next rains.

Lubhuku Farmers Association (near Mpaka)

Project: Siltation Control and Land Rehabilitation in thecatchment of a small community dam with a small catch-ment area and gentle flow line. The planted areas are pro-tected from cattle.

On 26 October 2000, 3 hedges were planted across theflow line and protected with stones. Hedges were alsoplanted across adjacent degraded areas into exposed sub-soils. Further hedges were later planted by the community.Establishment was poor in the raised portions of the subsoilplantings with attack by termites common. Surprisinglyeven the growing leaves were attacked in places.Establishment was good in lower, wetter areas, initially withlittle loss from burial or dislodgement even though signifi-cant storm flows were experienced. Hedge developmentwas however later restricted by burial under silt. Plantingsof vetiver clumps, poly-bags and strips in March were quickto establish.

By mid August the vetiver was suffering severe waterstress, with most of the foliage desiccated. Trampling andgrazing by goats, which could pass through the barbed wirefence was severe in places. Little of the vetiver planted intothe subsoil survived.

Mgampondo (Lavumisa area)

Project: Siltation control in community weir.

Vetiver hedges were planted above a stone check damand gullies above the weir on 8 November 2000.Establishment was good though there was some damageby grazing goats, trampling by cattle and dislodgement inthe main flow line. The damaged hedges were not protect-ed by fencing. Hedges planted into shale were slow todevelop. Vetiver planted into a partially shaded flow line,where the flow was often prolonged at times, developedwell.

Mkhaya Community Dam (near Gilgal)

Project: Spillway Protection at a newly constructedcommunity dam with a sandy spillway. The dam is fenced.The catchment is large. Approximately 12,000m3 storagecapacity with a catchment area over 5 km2.

Four vetiver hedges, 50 to 75m long comprised of onedouble line and three single lines, were planted across thefull width of the spillway on Nov 9. The vetiver was plantedinto germinated Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana) and self-sown species with minimum disturbance because of the vul-nerability of the site. By early December competition fromother grasses was affecting growth. There was no mainte-nance carried out by the community. Vetiver planted in lateSeptember, before the Rhodes grass was sown, did devel-

op well.

During the heavy rains in February and March therewas considerable flow down the spillway, which resulted inthe formation of large gullies. Large sections of the vetiverhedges were washed away and the 1m deep sand/cementblock sills were almost undercut at several points. Erosionon these highly erosive soils was made worse by the poor-ly leveled spillway and spillway sills. An effective hedge hadnot developed but there was evidence that flow had beenchanneled into gaps in the hedges, increasing localized ero-sion. Some erosion from turbulent flow through the hedgeswas also evident.

Note that vetiver hedges must not be planted with-in one vertical meter of the spillway mouth, as this willrestrict flow and could contribute to the dam breaching.

Sithobela Dam

Project: Siltation control above a community dam witha medium sized catchment and gentle flow-line. The pro-tective fencing is poorly maintained.

Vetiver hedges were planted above a stone checkabove the dam on 23 November 2000. A considerablenumber of gaps caused by trampling by livestock and peo-ple and grazing (the newly planted slips were pulled out)were replanted with pre-rooted vetiver on March 12. Theestablished vetiver was developing well. By mid August allthe vetiver had been grazed to near ground level (2-5cms)including most culms. Later plantings were surviving butseem particularly vulnerable to trampling.

Vuka Sidwashini F. A. near Buhleni.

Project: Embankment and gully stabilization at aFarmer Association Sugar Cane Scheme in association withSKPE.

On 11 Jan 2001, hedges were planted which was dur-ing a very hot dry spell. They were well watered by themembers and survival was in excess of 80%. Most of thegaps in the hedges were filled by the community. Somedamage was caused to hedges when a pump house wasconstructed.

Mgulube and Mkhuhlweni Community Dams

Project: Spillway protection at an established commu-nity dam to control erosion at the return to stream. The pro-tective fencing is poorly maintained.

Mgulube Dam - Planted on 7 February 2001 into verywet soils, the survival was high but vetiver planted at thebottom of the small rills was washed away. During the win-ter of 2001, grazing by cattle was severe.

Mkhuhlweni Dam - The protective fencing is poorlymaintained. On 15 March 2001 vetiver was planted intoshallow flowing water at the end of the spillway. The area


was covered with bulrush (Typha latifo-lia, T. capensis), which had to becleared to allow planting.

Asibemunye Farmers Association

Project: Vetiver nursery establish-ment, erosion control in an orchard inassociation with Vus’umnotfo andSwaziland Settlement. The orchardhas steep slopes and is in a high rain-fall area.

Planted on 22 March 2001, a rowof vetiver was planted 2m above thetop line of deciduous trees in anorchard and a small nursery estab-lished. The nursery was to provideplanting material to plant further rowsin the orchard 2m above and 2m beloweach line of trees which are plantedroughly along the contour with 10mbetween lines.

Mortality was low and the nurserywas well cared for, though growth hasbeen retarded by livestock entering thegarden and grazing the grass.

Ngwazini Orchard and CommunitySchool Nursery

Planted with assistance from DFIDin December 2001. A small nurserywas established for income genera-tion, a community orchard planted forerosion control and mulching and aneroded area protected.

Highway Embankment StabilizationMvutjini

Hydromulch (Pty) Ltd, a leadingSouth African company, with theMinistry of Works established anembankment stabilization trial on theManzini to Mbabane highway, 10kmfrom Mbabane on 30 November 2000.

Vetiver in poly bags was plantedand the area hydro-seeded using amixture which appears to be dominat-ed by Eragrostis teff. The vetiver hassurvived but not thrived. Starting inearly winter 2001 the whole area hasbeen mowed to ground level, showingthe roads maintenance does not knowthe vetiver maintenance requirements.Vetiver should only be trimmed to kneeheight. All the plots, which includeKikuyu turf, Kikuyu turf strips, 2 types

of mulching fabric and hydro-seedingalone, appear good especially whencompared the bare control area.There was some rill formation in thehydro seeded plots, with or withoutvetiver. The vetiver was not plantedclosely enough (20cm between plants)and because of competition from theE. teff did not develop enough to haveany effect. E. teff is an annual and thevetiver may develop in the coming sea-sons giving a more long-term effect.

Highway Embankment StabilizationMotjane

Puggs Landscaping of Nelspruitwas contracted by the Ministry ofWorks to demonstrate embankmentstabilization on the Mbabane Ngwenyahighway near Motshane. A long steepembankment was planted to vetiver inMarch 2001. The distance betweenplants and rows was good. Bare roottillers were used (which we would notadvise on a long steep embankment ina high rainfall area). There was ade-quate rainfall in the weeks followingplanting. The planting material wasobviously dead when planted andthere was 100% mortality.

Editor’s Note: Rob’s report stronglyreminds us that while vetiver is a toughplant, it is still a plant. Like all plants, itneeds suitable conditions to establishand maintain itself. As Aldo Miranda,from NOBS in El Salvador told us, oneof the keys to successful establish-ment in road stabilization projects inhis country had been in first getting thecommunity to understand why theplant was there and what the benefitwas to them… this way, the communi-ties themselves protected the plantingsduring the establishment phase andNOBS could concentrate on the tech-nical factors. vv

CVN EARNS 2002ENVIRONMENTAL

ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

The China Vetiver Network/Instituteof Soil Science was presented with

the 2002 Environmental AchievementAward of Distinction from theInternational Erosion ControlAssociation (IECA) at their annual con-

ference in Orlando, FL. Jim Smyle,President of TVN, accepted the awardon behalf of the CVN and Liyu Xu.The annual award is given to an out-standing project which demonstratesexcellence in natural resource conser-vation and environmental protectionthrough the use of effective erosionand sediment control policies, prac-tices and/or public education. vv

GUYANA SUGAR

CORPORATION: VETIVER IS

PART OF COMPANY’SENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

From Guyana Sugar CorporationWebsite <www.GuySuCo.com>

The Guyana Sugar Corp.(GuySuCo) has a policy to imple-

ment an Environmental ManagementSystem that prevents pollution in thecultivation of sugar-cane and the man-ufacture of sugar and its by-products,both within the Corporation’s bound-aries and in adjacent communities.The system is compliant with nationallegislation and follows internationallyacceptable standards. It is subject tocontinual review and improvement bymanagement to ensure that environ-mental goals are achieved. The sys-tem is being developed in conformitywith ISO 14001 standards.

The GuySuCo and the Guyanasugar industry are trying to improvetheir environmental management. Todo so they are using vetiver grass tohelp prevent soil erosion by stabilizingsoil (e.g. on drain sides and canaledges) and absorb and prevent themovement of contaminants (e.g. fromland-fill sites and waste disposalponds). Vetiver grass is also beingevaluated as a natural insect repellentand a potential barrier to rat migrationsinto sugar cane.vv


INVESTIGATIONS OF JIJI

GRASS AS AN ALTERNATIVE

TO VETIVER GRASS FOR

NORTH CHINABy Prof. Liyu Xu, Coordinator, ChinaVetiver Network (CNVN), Nanjing -China

Under generous funding from TheWallace Genetic Foundation, a

comprehensive research on Jiji grass(Achnatherum splendens (trin.)Nerski), a grass which can tolerate anextremely cold and dry climate, wasimplemented. The study includedextensive field observation, laboratoryanalysis, greenhouse experiments,etc.

Distribution and major function

Multiple investigations before andduring the project showed thatalthough Jiji grass has a wide distribu-tion, in general it can be found in 3ecological zones: (a) Meadow Eocene- the grass was the main pasture com-ponent for livestock; (b) Semi-desertEocene for anti-desertification andwind erosion control; (c) Serious erod-ed gully zone for soil erosion protectionwhich was our main research topic.

Effect on soil properties

Based on the data and discussion,it is concluded that since Jiji grass hadmassive roots, >1 mm roots in particu-lar, the number of soil pores, includingcapillary pores and non-capillarypores, were significantly increased.This decreased soil bulk density andincreased soil water capacity, reducedrunoff, and increased water penetra-tion into soil. Jiji grass has greatpotential for soil physical propertyimprovement, soil and water conserva-tion, and crop production in LoessPlateau area.

With Jiji grass, soil nutrient proper-ties were improved. Organic matter,nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, pHvalue, and cation exchange capacityall improved.

Jiji grass has a high root density.

The grass retained soil insitu andreduced scouring and erosion andtherefore has high potential in soil ero-sion control and slope stabilization.Also, the grass improved other soilchemical, physical, and biologicalproperties that are beneficial to cropproduction.

Jiji grass increases soil shearstrength, with its strong and denseroots. Water erosion was controlledeffectively. From earlier research wefound that Jiji grass grew even betteron the edges of eroded gullies, withroots length of one or two meterswhere the soil contained less water.

The strong root system of Jiji grassenabled the improvement of soil struc-ture, porosity, and thus permeability,and therefore enabled more rainfallpenetrating into soil and recharge toground water during wet season,which not only reduced runoff andwater erosion but also increased soilmoisture for crop production.

Ecological tolerances

Based on field investigationswhich covered several provinces, incombination with laboratory analysis, itwas confirmed that:

• Jiji grass can be tolerate tempera-tures from <-33Cº to > 38ºC.

• It is drought-tolerant. (it has beenobserved growing on earth walls indry areas).

• It can tolerate saline soil contain-ing salt (50% or more). In suchareas, Jiji can tolerate submersionin saline water. Testing has indi-cated that certain salt contentsmay promote growth.

• The grass is tolerant of poor soilsand has been found growing onstone walls with very low nutrientavailability.

• Although Jiji grass requires light, itwas observed to have bettergrowth under the shade of treespossibly because of increased soilmoisture.

• The most extraordinary propertywas that it was fond of growing onthe edges of deeply eroded gulliesor steep slopes where the soil hadlittle moisture and higher capillarity.

• Like vetiver, Jiji grass can with-stand fire. Although part of the oldgrass clumps, the central part inparticular, may die-back, theclumps can stand severaldecades. Even if the clump looksalmost dead the soil mound wasstill well fixed.

• Several tests showed that thegrass does not grow well on acidsoils (< pH 7.0) such as in southChina.

• Although it can stand some graz-ing, long term overgrazing maycause the grass to degrade.

Main applications

For further applications, the firstconsideration is to plant the grass atedges of the eroded gullies to preventfurther erosion in the Loess Plateauarea.

Jiji grass can be used to stabilizenew terraces. For sloping lands, Jijigrass should be planted along con-tours, 1-2 m vertical spacing.

Also, the grass can be planted fornew construction protection, such ashighways, railways, and dams.

Further study

Although preliminary test showedthat the grass can be reproduced byboth seeds and tillers, the survival ratewas not as high as vetiver grass.Further study is needed mainly on thepropagation and should include:

• Propagation: The tillers testedcame from old plants, possibly afew decades old, and the survivalrate was low. It may be much bet-ter to obtain tillers from nurserystock.

• The use of growth regulator forvegetative propagation.

• Propagation with seeds followedby transplanting

TECHNICAL PAPERS


• Establishment of Jiji hedges (spac-ing, number of tillers/clump, etc.)and its effect on erosion and sedi-ment control. vv

VETIVER PROPAGATION -BETTER THAN COW TEA,FASTER THAN A SPEEDING

BULLETBy Criss Juliard, Vetiver NetworkBoard Member, Dakar - Senegal

Istumbled on another, perhaps morerapid and less troublesome method

to speed up the rooting process ofvetiver shoots for more effective multi-plication. I had some vetiver slips sentfrom a reputable South African suppli-er (thanks to Duncan Hay of theSAVN). Plants were packed bare-rootin carton boxes that had been linedwith black plastic, and water had beensprinkled on the tightly packed plantsto keep them damp. The plants tookabout 8 days to arrive, between timepacked to clearing customs and deliv-ery. When I opened the cartons, near-ly all the bare root slips had new whiteroots growing from the crowns, somemeasuring up to 3 cm, especially thecarton that had been well sealed andhad almost no chance for air or mois-ture to escape. There was lowergrowth in the box that did not have suf-ficient humidity. We immediately putthe plants in damp soil, reducing to aminimum the amount of time rootswere exposed to light, and put them inbunches of 25 to await dispatching.We had ordered 4,000 plants that hadto go out to several districts inSenegal. Now some 4 weeks later, Ihave almost 100% growth, and veryspeedy retakes, faster than the cow-tea bath we often mentioned in multi-plication efforts. When I dispatchedthe plants to other regions (some aweek later, using the sealed, damp-ened cardboard box trick), we had sim-ilar results when unpacked in the field.Since then I have tried to replicate themethod, and find that it works,although not as well as the plants thathad an 8 hour airplane ride. In additionto roots, the stems began to grow outeven though there was no light. Whenthe plants were reintroduced to light

(slowly going from shade to open sun-light over a period of 10 days), theplants developed at a faster rate thantraditional methods of multiplication(no statistics, but confirmed observa-tion).

I am looking for other experiences.I suspect the plants, under stress, likedthe dark, the cold and the damp, andsubsequently sprung roots in theireffort to survive. Tell me if testing thismethod interests you, and if you canreplicate. I would happy to hear theresults of your efforts in your respec-tive zones. Richard Grimshaw indicat-ed he had a similar experience yearsback in India when he received a ship-ment of vetiver also sent by plane. Weare not sure whether it is the plane rideor the dark, humid atmosphere, butperhaps this experience will lead youand others to experiment.

[Note from Paul Truong: Very inter-esting, most plants tend to “grow” bet-ter in the dark, to be more precise theyproduce more roots and shoots butactually not growing as there is no pho-tosynthesis. The trick therefore is toget them out to the sun as soon aspossible to replenish their food reserveand continue to make the best of thenew shoot and roots they producedbefore. Somehow vetiver seems to dovery well under these conditons.] vv

SOME OBSERVATIONS ON

VETIVER IN THE

MEDITERRANEAN REGIONBy Mike Pease, EMVN, Algarve -Portugal

Dr. Vito Sardo, working in Catania,Sicily has drawn some valuable

conclusions on the performance ofvetiver under Mediterranean condi-tions. He writes:

“After six years with vetiver plantsof the ‘Monto’ seedless variety, the fol-lowing conclusions can be drawn:

• Vetiver grass in the Mediterraneanenvironment can thrive satisfactori-ly as long as it is well irrigated.

• However, the growth rate is farlower than reported in the literaturereferring to tropical environments,the principal limitation dependingon soil and atmosphere tempera-ture - to initiate growth, in fact soiltemperature must exceed 18º C.

• Vetiver grass can survive longperiods (even months) of watersubmersion.

• Under the experimental conditions(37º latitude, sea level elevation,fully irrigated, loamy soil) theabove-ground biomass productionaveraged about 20 Mg/ha dry mat-ter/year.

• Root development was in all casesmuch less than reported in the lit-erature, never exceeding 1mdepth.

• Hedges formed to protect soilsfrom run-off and erosion are effi-cient and reasonably fast to form(one season).

• While growing vigorously evenunder extremely high temperatures(46º C), vetiver grass can survivelow temperatures (even lower than0º C) but growth is arrested.

• No pest or disease was detectedduring the six years of observation.

• In no case did vetiver grass showthe tendency to expand andbecome a weed; conversely, noweed could grow in the vetivergrass fields.

• Vetiver grass showed an apprecia-ble efficiency in the depuration ofurban wastes.

• Vetiver grass showed an unexpect-ed tolerance to salinity.”

[According to Mike Pease a num-ber of questions arise from VitoSardo’s finding]:

Annual precipitation in Catania isnormally about 600 mm but in recentyears has been around 300 mm.Under these conditions leaf height var-ied between 1m and 1.5m.

In the Algarve, Portugal, variousfield applications of vetiver during thepast 4 years have shown that, underirrigation and plant feeding, leaf growthwill reach 2m or even exceed it. Rootdevelopment has not been measured.It certainly does not reach the depthsrecorded in the literature for tropical


regions, i.e. 3-5m. However, it mayexceed the 1m recorded scientificallyby Dr. Sardo. Annual precipitation inthose areas where vetiver is growing inthe Algarve varies from say 400 - 800mm per annum.

There is probably little questionthat, in those southern parts of theEMVN Region where climatic condi-tions permit the establishment of vetiv-er, plants will grow at a less rapid rateand reach a lower ultimate level ofgrowth for both leaf height and rootdevelopment.

This raises the question as to whatare the critical leaf heights and rootdepths for effective hedgerow estab-lishment to control erosion and waterrun-off.

I suggest that the critical height ofdense, above-ground mass may be nomore than 60-70 cm except where thepurpose of the hedgerow is to act as awind-break. If this surmise is correct,then it matters not if, under EMVN con-ditions, plants reach not much morethan 1.5m. in leaf height.

Root depth and density is morecritical. I am not aware of data thatestablishes the critical depth/densityfactors. However, it is probably rea-sonable to surmise, for the time being,that providing root depth is not lessthan say 1m and that root density isgood, soil ‘nailing’, control of tunnelingand overall surface and subterraneansoil cohesion will be adequate. CrissJuliard comments that ‘root mass’ ismore critical than ‘root depth’ in nailingthe soil to prevent erosion.Incidentally, he has also found that pigmanure is more effective in promotingextensive root growth than othermanures.

In Dick Grimshaw’s report on hisrecent visit to China he mentions thedesirability of removing ‘dead woodystem material’ (DWSM) from plantingmaterial. I think this merits discussion.

In has always been my practice toprepare really nice looking slips andthis, of course, involves removal of theDWSM. It is unsightly, gets in the wayand would not be viewed favourably by

an agricultural inspector if the plantswere for export. But, as far as I amaware, the DWSM harbours no pest ordisease and causes no harm to the liv-ing plant. So, if it were not for theunsightliness the DWSM could be lefton.

I have made a very approximateestimate of my work break-down forplant preparation. But my figuresshould be viewed in the light that mynursery is sited on heavy clay soil,whereas a good nursery site should beon light sandy soil. Also, a fully opera-tional nursery would certainly havemother plants no older than 2 years,perhaps mostly one year. In my casethe mother plants are 4 years old andhave been trimmed back 4 times intheir lives. So I have a lot more dwsmthan one would expect in a commercialnursery.

• Digging out/removal of main clods- 10%

• Soaking/splitting into manageablechunks - 15%

• Trimming leaves to 20cm, roots to10cm - 10%

• Washing - 5%• Removal of DWSM and washing

again - 50%• Counting into bundles - 10%

Put a cost on the labour involvedand the cost of removing the DWSMthen becomes debatable. I would cer-

tainly never supply for sale plants thatwere not carefully selected and pre-pared with all DWSM removed.However, if I was dealing with thou-sands of plants rather than the few thatI supply I would consider carefullywhether it was worthwhile removingthe DWSM, especially if the plantswere destined for local use. vv

HOW MUCH VETIVER DO

WE NEED?By John Dickinson, PROSCARP,Lilongwe - Malawi (excerpt from theMalawi Vetiver Network Newsletter,Volume 2, Issue 1, June 2001)

How often have you been shown anewly established vetiver nursery

by a justifiably proud village conserva-tion committee or village headman?Much effort has been expended,money spent and resources utilised toestablish the nursery. But how muchland will this nursery protect once thegrass is transplanted as countourhedgerows? Sadly, in the short-term,not as much as the farmers expect.

Let’s look at the figures. But firstsome basic data and assumptions.


SUBMERGENCE TESTING VETIVER GRASSPhoto and Report by Dr. Xia Hanping, South China Institute of Botany,Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou - China

Photo 7. Taken Sept. 10, this vetiver hedge was completely sub-merged for 50 days (July 4th - August 24) and survived. A sixtyday submergence trial is planned.

Photo credit: Xia Hanping

• On upland soils the recommended spacingfor vetiver is 90 x 45cm givng a plant popula-tion of just under 25,000 clumps/ha.On dambo [good] soils the recommendedspacing is 45x45 cm giving a plant populationof nearly 50,000 clumps/ha.

• Under good management, between 10 and40 splits can be obtained from one clump,hence 500,000 to 2 million splits from 1 ha.of dambo nursery.

• One split must be retained for replanting so 450,000 to1.95 million splits can be obtained for hedgerow plant-ing from 1 ha. of nursery.

• The recommendation for plantingon the hedgerow is three splitsevery 10 cm or 30 splits permeter.

So, under ideal conditions andgood management, 1 ha of vetiv-er nursery will produce enoughvetiver grass to plant between 15and 65 km of hedgerow.

On moderately sloping land, 15mspacing between hedgerows isrecommended. Hence 1 km ofhedgerow (1000m) will protectabout 1.5 ha of land.

1 hectare of nursery cantherefore potentially protect22.5 to 97.5 ha only

Of course management is rarelyideal, nurseries are often not estab-lished in dambos and villages able toprovide and manage 1 ha of land fora nursery are the exception ratherthan the rule.

So, we have seen that undernormal conditions a typical villagevetiver nursery will, on an annualbasis, provide only a fraction of thevillage’s requirements for soil conser-vation. Even with a well establishednursery, 8 years or more will be need-ed to protect all the land for an aver-age Malawian village.

These figures should not be seenas discouraging. Rather, it is essen-tial that from the outset of a vetiverprogram with any community, thelong-term commitment required isclearly stated.

Many of the above figures arenotional. We would be very happy

to receive comments from others on their own experienceswhether they appear to confirm or refute the above. vv


Table 5. This table estimates the area of land that may be protected by a0.5 ha nursery under different management conditions.

Road Works Stabilization …Your Problem?

The Problem

Soil stabilization is a critical issue to be addressed in road or railtrack engineering. This applies to cuttings, embankments, culverts and bridge abutments as examples. Often, a solution is sought by engineered means. These can include gunite application, creation of gabion walls, biomatting or hydro-seeding as examples. These solutions can be effective but they are generally costly or require costly maintenance. Mostly they are not aesthetically pleasing.

The Solution!

Vetiver Grass Hedgerows∗∗

• Stabilize slopes cheaply, permanently and in an aesthetically pleasing manner.

• Restrain downward water flow by their density and height (up to 2m).

• Anchor and nail down the soil by using their unique, vertical and extremely strong rooting system (>3m deep and root tensile strength of 75 mpa).

• Resolve problems of gullying, rilling and tunneling that do not occur where a good system of Vetiver hedgerows has been established.

Practical Application and Economics • Effective hedgerow establishment requires some attention initially. Thereafter, maintenance

requirements are minimal and hedgerows will survive, even with annual precipitation as low as 300mm.

• Stabilization of engineered slopes using Vetiver hedgerows has been successfully demonstrated in such countries as: China, Malaysia, Thailand, Madagascar and El Salvador.

• The cost of soil stabilization using Vetiver hedgerows can be 60-90% of the cost using engineered methods, as demonstrated in Australia and China, dependent upon the nature of

the works and labor costs.**

* The Vetiver System (VS) is a cheap, safe, proven and effective means of soil conservation and stabilization and has

been extensively employed in many countries. Vetiver grass does not produce seed and stays where man plants it. So, it is not invasive. It is not affected to any significant extent by pests and diseases, nor does it act as a host for pests or diseases that might attack other plants. So, it is safe. The plant, emanating from India, has existed for centuries. But its extensive use for soil conservation, pollution control and bio-engineering only commenced in the 1980's. For more information contact The Vetiver Network www.vetiver.org.

** Bracken & Truong, 2000

Management Level Dambo Upland Low High Low High

Excellent 12 45 6 20 Good 8 30 4 15 Fair 4 15 2 7 Poor 2 7 1 0.5

Photo 8. Fact sheet developed by Mike Pease and Harry Nijpels of the EMVN.They would like to see the development of additional fact sheets with before and afterphotos would be used to “stimulate initial interest in VS” to then be followed up withadditional information.

VETIVER NETWORK CONTACTSThe Vetiver Network (TVN) Ms. Joan Miller3601 N. 14th St.Arlington, VA 22201USATel: (703) 525-7092Fax: (703) 243-6203Email: [email protected]: www.vetiver.org

Pacific Rim (PRVN) &Thailand (THVN)Office of the RoyalDevelopment Projects Board78 Rajdamnern Nok AvenueDusit, Bangkok 10300THAILANDTel: (66-2) 280-6193Fax: (66-2) 280-6206Narong Chomchalow Email: [email protected]: [email protected]:www.prvn.rdpb.go.th

(Represents Australia, Brunei,Cambodia, China, Fiji, Indonesia,Japan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, NewZealand, Papua New Guinea,Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand,Vanuatu, Vietnam)

Europe/Mediterranean(EMVN)Mr. Micheal PeaseQuinta das EspargosasOdiaxere, 8600 LagosAlgarve - PORTUGALTel/fax: 351-82-798466Email: [email protected]:www.vetiver.org/EMVN_NET.htm

Latin American (LAVN) Dr. Oscar RodriguezSociedad ConservacionistaAraguaApartado Postal 5067El Limón-Maracay 2105VENEZUELATel/fax: (58) 043 831734Email: [email protected]

Andean Region Mauricio César CalderónSánchezCuevas Nº 480Rancagua - CHILETel: (56) 72 231936Email: [email protected]

(Represents Chile, Peru, Bolivia,Argentina, Uruguay)

Southern Africa (SAVN)Mr. Duncan HayInstitute of Natural ResourcesUniversity of NatalPrivate Bag X01Scottsville, 3209REP. OF SOUTH AFRICATel: 033-3460796Fax: 033-3460895Email: [email protected]: www.inr.unp.ac.za/vetiver

Cameroon (CMVN)Mr. Ngwainmbi Simon ChiaBelo Rural DevelopmentProjectP.O. Box 10, BeloBoyo DivisionNorth West ProvinceCAMEROONEmail: [email protected]

China (CNVN)Prof. Liyu Xu71# Beijing DongluNanjing 210008CHINATel. 86-25-3367364 Fax 86-25-3353590Emails: [email protected];[email protected]:www.vetiver.org/CHN_NET.htm

India (INVN)Rajan R GandhiX-011, Regency Park - IIDLF City Phase IVGURGAON 122 002Haryana INDIATel: 98102-92484Email: [email protected]

Indonesia (IDVN)Mr. Indrawan SuparanJl. Arco Raya Buntu B16Cipete Selatan, Jakarta 12410INDONESIAFax: 62 21 7690906Email: [email protected]: www.vetiver.bizland.com

Madagascar Mr. Eric MacDonaldBoite Postal 4301Antananarivo, 101MADAGASCARTel: 261-22-348-08Fax: 261-22-348-01Email: [email protected]

Philippines (VETINETPHIL)Dr. Edwin BalbarinoFarm and ResourceManagement Institute,FARMI-ViSCABaybay, Leyte - PHILIPPINESTel: (053) 3352433 /Office (053) 09196678205Fax: (053) 3352433Email: [email protected]

Tanzania (TZVN)Mr. Anthony MakoyeP.O. Box 31050Dar es SalaamTANZANIAEmail: [email protected]

Vietnam (VNVN)Dr. Pham Hong Duc PhuocDirector, InternationalProgramsHo Chi Minh City University of Agriculture &Forestry Thu Duc DistrictHo Chi Minh CityVIETNAMEmail: [email protected]

Brazil (RBV)Eng. Rogério de Souza LimaCaixa Postal 33130Rio de Janeiro, RJCEP 22442-970BRAZILTel: (55) 21 96259951Email: [email protected]: brasilvetiver.00page.com

Chile Ing. Pablo Molina B.Manuel Antonio Maira 1011Depto. 18 ProvidenciaSantiago de CHILETel: (56) (2) 22 59 146 Fax: (56) (2) 69 63 180Email: [email protected]:www.geocities.com/vetiverchile

Colombia (RCV)Ing. Octavio Torres JimenezA. Aereo 51748BarranquillaCOLOMBIATel: (57) 3553183; Cel 033-6317583; Fax: (57) 3552836Email: [email protected]

Costa Rica (CRVN)Linda Moyher/Ernesto CarmanFinca Cristina Apartado 1 Paraíso 1-7100 COSTA RICAEmail: [email protected]

Ecuador (Ecuativer)Atn. Piet SabbeEscuela de Ciencias Agrícolasy Ambientales (ECAA)PUCE - IbarraAvenida Jorge Guzman y PólitIbarra - ECUADOREmail: [email protected]: www.ecuativer.com

El Salvador & Nicaragua Ing. Ronald ChávezNOBS AntierosiónKm 21 carretera a Santa AnaColón, La LibertadEL SALVADORTel: (503) 338-4367Fax: (503) 223-9823Email: [email protected]

México (MEXVN)Ana María Le Moing / LASOS Apdo. Postal 124Oaxaca, Oax. CP 68000MÉXICOTel/Fax: (52) 951 4 34 94 Tel: (52) 951 1 05 65Email: [email protected]

Panama José Luis García B.Ave. Pablo Arosemena, 4847Aguadulce - Provincia deCoclé - PANAMATel: (507) 997- 5365Fax: (507) 998-4638 Email: [email protected]

Peru Dr. Julio AlegreAv. La Universidad 795 LaMolina Apartado 1558Lima - PERUTel: (51) 1 3486017 Ext: 2117Fax: (51) 1 3495638Email: [email protected]

Venezuela Prof. Gerardo Yepez Aptdo. 5115El Limón - MaracayVENEZUELATel/fax: (043) 36.18.20 Email: [email protected]


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