Patron - H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand
Mission
The Vetiver Network International (TVNI) promotes the worldwide use of the Vetiver System (VS) for a sustainable environment particularly in relation to land and water.
For the latest information about the Vetiver System go to What's New
Ethiopian and Kenyan Vetiver System Workshops - March 2009
We have just completed two very important workshops in Kenya and Ethiopia. Some 60 and 165 participants respectively attended the workshops and as a result in Kenya there is the hope of expanded use and application of the Vetiver System, and in Ethiopia it is almost certain that there will be a major scale up in the use of vetiver for soil and water conservation based on 20 years positive experience. VS can play a vital role in improving and sustaining agricultural production throughout tropical and semi tropical countries that practice rainfed agriculture. At this time of climate change and the erratic and often violent weather conditions VS has a very important role to play. The Ethiopian workshop and subsequent field trip clearly demonstrated how VS has resulted in renewed aquifers and new spring flows of potable water, as well as the restoration of wetlands - both resulting from improved groundwater recharge due to the significant reduction in rainfall runoff associated with vetiver hedgerows. More details and links to workshop papers, power points and videos can be found at this link
Vetiver System Overview 
Learn More
The Vetiver Network International (TVNI) promotes the Vetiver System (VS), a concept integrating simple scientific principals of hydrology, soil mechanics, and similar natural processes to manage soil and water on a landscape scale. The concept excels best when implemented using clones of a remarkable domesticated plant – vetiver (Chrysopogon zizanioides), a non fertile, noninvasive Indian clump grass cultivated for centuries for essential oil. Vetiver is central to a wide range of applications, generally installed as narrow linear barriers (hedgerows): its roots hold soil in place and dense ground-level stems restrain sediment flows. Unlike “hard” engineering approaches that weaken over time, VS grows stronger. It is a renewal of a traditional approach that has been validated scientifically, and expanded and promoted by TVNI.
The VS provides significant economic, environmental and social benefits. VS is now used in most tropical and semi-tropical countries, north to Italy and south to Chile. Based on research and demonstrations through TVNI “partners,” including research institutions, development agencies, NGO's and the private sector, VS has expanded from a technology primarily for farm soil and water conservation to include major applications for:
- slope stabilization of public infrastructure (e.g., roads, railways, canals, rivers, construction);
- prevention and treatment of contaminated domestic and industrial waste water;
- reclamation of toxic mine-tailings and polluted industrial land;
- disaster mitigation (e.g., stabilizing potential landslide sites, dikes and levees, dampening wind scour, and area protection against flooding);
- soil improvement, wetland and marginal land restoration, and crop pest control;
- renewable natural fibre for handicraft production, mulch, and thatch, etc.
All these applications impact positively on sustaining the environment and natural resources, while improving human welfare. For more details about the plant, its propagation and how to plant it go to this link
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Soil Erosion Control: The Vetiver System is the premier soil erosion method outside of temperate zones. Narrow hedgerows of Vetiver grass will spread out rainfall runoff across the slope, act as a filter to trap erosion sediment, create natural terraces and reduces the velocity of rainfall runoff. It has application for on farm soil and water conservation, rehabilitation of eroded lands, and prevention of erosion on sloping lands.  Learn More |
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Agriculture Improvement: The Vetiver System has many agricultural uses for: soil and water conservation, soil moisture improvement, groundwater recharge, recycling soil nutrients, pest control, mulch, forage, clean up of agricultural contaminated waste water, protection of farm infrastructure (canals, drains, roads, and building sites. Learn More |
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Slope Protection: The combination of deep roots with tensile strength of 75 MPa that improve the shear strength of soil by as much as 40% makes Vetiver grass an ideal plant for stabilizing steep and unstable slopes. The Vetiver System when applied to such slopes significantly reduces the probability of land slippage and reduces the need for “hard solutions”. Applications include highway, railway, riverbanks, public utility right of ways, canal, dikes, and levee slopes. Learn More |
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Disaster Mitigation: The Vetiver System can be used to reduce potential disasters caused by extreme rainfall events. Stabilization of levees and sea dikes reduces the chance of breaching and subsequent devastating flooding. Steep slope protection by Vetiver grass reduces potential land slippage caused by high rainfall events. Learn More |
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Prevention and Treatment of Contaminated Water and Land: The Vetiver grass will tolerate high levels of nitrates, phosphates, heavy metals, and agricultural chemicals. The Vetiver System can be used for treating wastewater, rehabilitating mine tailings, stabilizing landfills and general rubbish dumps. The Vetiver System takes up the toxic materials and confines the contaminates to the effected area. |
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Community Quality of Life and Poverty Reduction: In most developing countries many of the Vetiver System applications can be applied at minimum cost to poor rural communities to enhance quality of life through protection of water supplies, improving soils and increasing farm benefits, cleaning up waste water and reduction of diseases, protection of rural infrastructure, and providing byproducts for handicrafts, forage, mulch, thatch, medicines, and Vetiver plant material for sale to other users. |
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Landscaping: The Vetiver System can be applied for urban landscaping including beautification, slope stabilization, traffic dividers, demarcation of walkways, prevention of urban erosion etc. |
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Handicrafts: Vetiver grass provides a source of excellent material for handicrafts, particularly if the leaves are properly processed first. Sometimes, as in the case of Venezuela, a handicraft program for women and girls led to the Vetiver System being used for other applications. Thus addinf to the quality of communities and community effort. Learn More |
PIC OF THE MONTH: Vetiver and Banana growing in California - Doug Richardson
We have often received reports of improved growth of bananas when planted in association of vetiver hedgerows. Here is Doug Richardson showing off the vetiver hedgerows protecting a steep hillside in the Carpinteria area of southern California that has been planted with babanas. It looks positively tropical!! More information on vetiver and bananas can be found here. |
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Sand dune Stabilization in Madagascar: Hydromulch (Pty) Ltd has been involved in a major sand fixing, erosion control and slope stabilisation undertaking along newly constructed roads at the Rio Tinto/QMM Ilmenite Project at Fort Dauphin in Madagascar. Wind blown sand was a major issue and a decision was made to use barrier netting and Vetiver Grass hedgerows as erosion control protection on the slopes of the excavated Ehoala dune areas, prior to hydroseeding with local grass species. Rehabilitation activities during the construction phase are part of QMM’s environmental obligation to the Malagasy government. In conjunction with QMM Environmental, which has been interacting with the local communities in the mining area for a number of years, Hydromulch initiated a Vetiver sourcing and growing programme with members of neighbouring communities. Have a look at Choppin Yoann's Picassa gallery that describes some of this work and the communities involved. |
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Coral reef protection using VS. Don Miller of New Zealand has been working in Vanuatu (South Pacific island) for some years and demonstrates in this slide show how vetiver hedgerows can be used as an essentail part of reforesting badly eroding landscapes to prevent sediment reaching the sea and destroying coastal coral reefs and fisheries. Don's work can be replicated throughout most island ecologiies where eroding sedimnt flows are effecting coastal habitats in the tropics |
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River bank stabilization in southern Chile. Germán Wallace of Pineda Bioingeniería Wallace y Cía, Ltd a Concepcion, Chile and Paul Truong TVNI, Brisbane, Australia have done some very interesting river bank stabilization in the cool temperate region of southern Chile. We hope to see an expansion of this type of VS application in Chile and elsewhere. Learn more about this initiative. |
From Sally Holker - Women Weave of India - "I planted vetiver three monsoons ago on my eleven acres of land (Central India, on the banks of the Narbada River, near Maheshwar). The original idea was to arrest the erosion of my very unstable terrain, which slopes at a twenty degree angle from the north (top) down to the river (south) and was slowly washing the whole story away. That has completely reversed itself now. The vetiver has been a miracle and has multiplied many times over. Not only is the land stable, but also we have been able to use the leaf of these plants very effectively in a project close to my heart. For thirty years I have been committed to increasing rural employment for women in our area through handloom weaving. Most of the area weaves cotton and silk. We are now weaving vetiver leaf; making and selling beautiful table mats and runners."
From Debela Dinka - Sustainable Land Use Forum, Ethiopia. "According to our partner NGO in Illubabor, Ethio-Wetlands and Natural Resource Association (EWNRA), vetiver technology is more or less being used in 17 districts of 22 in Illubabor. It is estimated that about 17,000 households are using vetiver. It is expected that the remaining 5 districts will be involved. The major impacts of vetiver are: decreased rate of soil erosion; increased crop (maize sorghum, vegetables) yield due to soil and water conservation; reduced siltation of wetlands & streams; groundwater recharge which subsequently improved flow of springs, streams & wetlands; survival rate of tree & coffee seedlings reached more than 80%. Other uses of vetiver: mulching in coffee plantations; thatching of houses, stores & shades (vetiver grass gives long time service); mattress making (it repels home fleas & other insects); homestead hedgerows for beautification; making rope; income generation (farmers sell vetiver clumps for planting materials); and the green leaves of vetiver are cut and spread in & around homes during holidays & social gatherings such as wedding ceremonies."
From Tran Tan Van - Vietnam. "Vietnam, like most countries, suffers natural disasters and environmental degradation. The threat from future rising sea levels puts Vietnam in the top five most endangered nations. Yearly 1000 people die during storms; as a result of toxic pollution of waterways, yearly average property damage is $300,000,000. The government understands the need to mitigate these effects but has resorted to using piecemeal, conventional engineering works. These are very expensive, technically complicated and are not durable. TVNI’s introduction of VS into Vietnam 7 years ago was for Vietnam “a timely glass of fresh water to the thirsty desert traveller”. It has been tested, demonstrated and adopted by the government, the research community, the private sector and individuals. The speed of its adoption over large landscapes attests that it is indeed the solution to myriad problems. Vietnam represents one of the world’s most successful cases of VS use".
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The Vetiver System is all about people and how they respond to environmental needs in areas of water and land management. TVNI recognises the many users and volunteers that support the Vetiver System. We salute them, and we cannot do without them. Meet the People of the Vetiver Network |
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Vetiver Systems Application - A Technical Reference Manual: Second Edition. June 2008. |
