Home
Soil Erosion has been a major issue in the past and will become an even greater issue in the future as population growth continues to expand and land resources are more intensively used, often to a point of destruction. Increased soil erosion means loss of land, reduced soil fertility, greater rainfall runoff, lower groundwater recharge, more sediment flows in river, higher contaminants in diminishing water supplies, lowered quality of drinking water, increased flooding, and diminished economic benefits and increased hardships to both rural and urban populations especially in developing countries, but also increasingly in developed countries too.
If applied correctly the Vetiver System could be an important tool to reduce erosion (by up to 90%), reduce and conserve rainfall runoff (by as much as 70%), improve ground water recharge, remove pollutants from water, reduce the risk of flooding, and improve economic benefits to communities.
Vetiver grass has been used (sometimes unknowingly) for these purposes for centuries in south India. In the last century the grass was taken around the world for use as an aromatic plant (root producing oil of vetiver); in some places such as Fiji, South Africa, and the West Indies it was grown as a hedge for soil conservation purposes. Since 1987 the use of vetiver for the latter purpose (grown as a narrow hedgerow across the slope of the land that slows down rainfall runoff velocity and filters out soil particles) has expanded significantly across the tropical and semi tropical countries of the world. Research and field results are well documented and can be found in the web site archives.
Compare Vetiver System for on farm soil and water conservation with engineered structures.
More like the above slide show: |
Vetiver System for Land Rehabilitation |
 |
Ethiopia workshop proceedings index with links to powerpoints and abstracts. These Proceedings include all aspects of VS including soil and water conservation and agricultural uses. 21 power points in total. |
 |
Summarises the findings of the workshop - endorsed by majority of participants |
 |
A short movie on the application of the Vetiver System for soil and water conservation in Ethiopia; shows cut and uncut hedgerows, and natural terrace build up. |
 |
Vetiver System: Ethiopia - Hassan Ali - Vetiver System Farmer of Excellence. (movie) Describes the activity of master farmer Hassan Ali, how he has benefited from VS and how he passed the information to 70 other farmers. |
 |
Vetiver System: Ethiopia - Ground Water Recharge - Ano Farm (movie). This short movie shows a commercial farm using VS on an intensive basis - 500 ha protected by 250km of vetiver hedgerows. As a result crop yields have improved significantly and groundwater has been recharged resulting in renewed spring flows. |
 |
Vetiver System: Ethiopia - Wetland Restoration - Wichi Wetland. (movie) Community based watershed Vetiver System applications on a large scale have resulted in the restoration of wetlands to their original state. |
 |
The Vetiver System for Agriculture: Download the Vetiver System for Agriculture, aomplete handbook on how VS can be used for agriculture. Includes soil erosion control, other agricultural uses, and handicrafts. Hard copies may be purchased from Amazon.com |
 |
The Vetiver System for Soil and Water Conservation: Download the Vetiver System for Soil and Water Conservation, a complete handbook on how VS can be used for erosion control. This book is a modification of John Greenfield's "Vetiver Grass - A Hedge Against Erosion" and contains colored images to match the original line drawings that depict detailed application of the technology. Hard copies may be purchased from Amazon.com |
 |
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 |
 |
Best Practices in Natural Resource Management: Multiple Uses of Vetiver Grass |
 |
Land Pays... (An Example of Best Practices in Ethiopia) |
 |
Vetiver Grass - The Hedge Against Erosion: A technology for soil and water conservation and embankment stabilization |
 |
Rural Poverty Alleviation and Natural Resource Protection in Minority Mountains of Guangxi Province of China: The EED funded Vetiver and Agroforestry Technology for Rural Poverty Alleviation and Natural Resource Protection in Minority Mountains of Guangxi Province of China has been launched. The project aims at helping local farmers develop economic trees for 48700 seedlings and 40 mini-irrigation systems. Meanwhile, vetiver system and agroforestry technology will be introduced and over 3 million vetiver tillers will be planted in order to conserve nature resources and provide farmers with multiple products and materials. Besides, various training courses will be organized and different publications will be produced and widely distributed to extend the project. |
 |
Urban Gully Control and Rehabilitation: In the Democratic Republic of the Congo there are serious social and economic problems caused by large ravines cutting back into urabn areas. A USAID funded community program in the town of Kikwit got the community involved in reshaping the gully and protecting it with vetiver grass, under the leadership of Alain Ndona.  See More |
 |
Vetiver Activities in North Africa and the Mediterranean: Read More |
| The slide show below put together by Alemu Mekonnen in 2000 gives quite a good idea of the soil erosion and soil loss that Ethiopian farmers are faced with, and how the Vetiver System can help mitigate the problems. Since 2000 VS applications have expanded. | |
