by Liyu Xu China Vetiver Network (CHVN) Coordinator
In the first year of New Millennium there was a great acceleration in vetiver development in China. Just before the New Millennium a conference titled “Vetiver - Bio-Engineering Technology for Erosion and Sediment Control and Civil Construction Stabilisation was held in Nanchang of Jiangxi Province in October 1999. Around 100 participants attended the conference and participated in the post-conference tour and surveyed demonstrations in Jiangxi and Fujian Provinces, of which most came from highway engineering institutions. With articles prepared by CNVN and published by different highway journals many engineers became familiar with the technology and started their own programs during 2000, in addition to the development in other fields.
1. Vetiver for highway stabilization
Continued rapid development of highway constructions during 2000 from high grade superway, to national, provincial, and even township highways. Highway engineers found that Vetiver System (VS) can effectively protect the embankment and reduce costs significantly.
1.1 National highway NO. 205
At the most critical section of national highway No. 205, vetiver was planted on the fills on 1-5 April 2000 during rainy season, with hedgerow spacing 20 - 25 cm within rows and 1.5 m between rows. An NGO called North Fujian Agricultural High-Technology Institution were the contractors for the Highway Bureau and guaranteed that the slope of 3000 m2 should be protected and covered with vegetation within 6 months. However the slope was fully protected in just 100 days after planting. The grass not only stabilized the highway embankment but also protected the state-owned barns just down the slope. To provide vegetation cover other grass was inter-planted.
1.2 Township highway in Meixian of Fujian Province
In Meixian Township of Youxi County, a newly constructed highway, the Long Kou Highway, was protected by vetiver by the County Communication Bureau in October 1999. The whole slope has an area of over 8000 m2. When we visited the site in July 2000 the grass was around 140 cm high and with 10-15 tiller/per clump. The highway was stable and the rice field blow the road was protected from sediment flows. The highway bureaus are enthusiastic in using vetiver because it is a cheap and simple. Before the application of vetiver grass, there were a lot of conflicts between highway bureaus and farmers. Farmers often went to highway bureaus asking for payment when their rice fields were buried by the eroded sediments from the highway embankments.
1.3 National highway NO. 316
National highway NO. 316 had used vetiver planting in 1996. In 2000, vetiver grass was planted on the mile stone of 109K+3 to protect the fills, in addition to various demonstrations established in the former few years. The grass was planted on 15-17 April 2000. In July 2000, the grass was over 100 cm high and 30-40 tillers/ per clump. The slope was generally stabilized.
1.4 FuQuan Superway
On the newly constructed high grade Fuquan expressway (from Fuzhou to Quanzhou then to Xiamen, vetiver was planted in September 1999 on a huge cut with about 20 000 M2. Almost 100% of the grass survived just one month after planting. In the spring 2000 the grass generally fixed the huge slope, but most of them did not grow well caused by extremely shortage of nutrients. As a result fertilizer was applied more or less depending on the detailed the condition of different sections and the grass grew well (refer this paper 4.4).
1.5 Highway protection in Zhejiang Province
The most exciting development in 2000 was the fast growing interest in VS in Zhejiang Province. It was a quite new province using vetiver on a large scale, characterized by the emphasis on high quality and detailed documentation from the very beginning.
1.5.1. The Project from Provincial Communication Bureau
The development of the project started very seriously from the beginning. In 1998 people from Zhejiang highway institutions learned about the vetiver grass technology (VGT) from highway journals. To obtain more knowledge, they visited several demonstration sites and nurseries in Fujian and Jiangxi Provinces, and studied their experience by watching and asking before starting their own work. They found that with vetiver systems the highway embankment can be stabilized with much less money than using traditional hard measures. Also, vetiver systems can protect the environment and keep the slope green in a short time, the latter is very important because nowadays people require a higher quality environment than ever before. The Highway Bureau anticipate that people's demand for a better environment will increase in the future. In 1999 a project titled “Application Research on the Use of Vetiver in Highway Construction in Zhejiang Province” was formally launched and granted by the provincial communication bureau. The project was prepared and co-implemented by engineers and directors from different institutions of the province, the prefecture, and the county in which the project was located. Almost all of the provincial highway institutions were involved, including the provincial Highway Bureau, Highway Association, Communication Science Institute. The project was implemented very earnestly. They signed a project contract, prepared implementation plans, planting specifications, and a timetable. During the whole project period they kept observation, analysis, and recording, and organized several workshops to deal with problems and train engineers. When the project was finished they organized an evaluation conference. Thus, the project is the first one in China initiated by the highway institutions themselves, to which so many engineers were involved. The project was carried out so seriously that no other projects can match it, although some similar projects were implemented several years ago in other provinces.
1.5.2 The demonstrations
The demonstrations were located in two places: the national highway NO. 330 in Lishui City and provincial highway NO. 52 in Jingning County. All the demonstration sites were distributed in mountainous area. Although the absolute elevation was not high, around 100 to 200 m above sea level, the relative elevation was great with typical mountainous landform feature. Soil erosion has been very serious. The highway administrations had had to keep repairing the road frequently. In April 1999 vetiver was introduced from Pingtan Island and planted on 4 sections along the national highway NO. 330, in which 2 were cuts and 2 were fills. Six months after planting the grass reached 200 cm height and with 21 tillers per clump in maximum. The average height was 150 cm. A fence was basically formed and the roots systems, at 80 cm deep, were connected to each. The thick root reached 2.5 mm in diameter. The slope was generally fixed. When the participants visited the site the grass was 180 cm high on average.
Based on the success on national highway NO. 330, VS was introduced to Provincial Highway NO. 52 in May 2000. The soil was extremely soft during planting. When a person stood on the ground the soil buried the ankles. Two sides on one section of highway were planted with vetiver. The survival rate was almost 100%. Later, in September vetiver grass was planted on the extended section with survival rate of 85%.
Altogether around 26,385 m2 was planted on two highways. Vetiver grew better on fills than on cuts (refer this paper 4.4).
1.5.3 The identification and evaluation to the success
To evaluate and analyze the project more thoroughly so that more people could understand and use the grass, an evaluation and identification conference on the application of vetiver system for highway embankment protection was held in Zhejiang Province of east China from 8-12 November 2000. The conference was co-organized by China Vetiver Network, and many other institutions. The recognized scientists and experts observed the demonstrations, checked up and reviewed all project documents, and calculated the economic balance. They fully approved the success of the project. Additionally they proposed some suggestions for further development.
It is worth to mention that the project director Mr Zhao Zhaoqing had been a treasurer of Zhejiang Provincial Highway Bureau. He had known nothing about plants and grasses and knew very little about highway construction before. He started to accept vetiver information since he retired years ago. His experience indicated that vetiver system is a technology easy to grasp so long as he or she does the job seriously. On the contrary the failure examples in China are usually caused by careless and casual technology application. Such experiences have occurred in the past in Guangdong and Fujian Province.
1. 6 Highway protection in other provinces
1.6.1 Jiangxi Province
In spring of 2000, about 180 000 tillers were planted on the highway with a slope area of 10 000 M2 in Douching county of Jiangxi Province to stabilize the embankment avoiding damage from wave action from Poyang Lake. Later the Shangrao Prefecture Highway Bureau, who started the first demonstration in Wuyi Mountain within Jiangxi Province in early 1999, planted vetiver almost along the whole highway from Hengfeng to Geyang, which was 40 kms. Additionally, the bureau established its own nursery for further applications. To disseminate VS the Shangrao Prefecture Highway Bureau organized training courses.
1.6.2 Yuannan Province
Vetiver grass was introduced to the Insect Resources Institute of Chinese Academy of Forestry in Yuannan Province by China Vetiver Network in 1998. The grass was planted on the fills of the highway from Chuxiong to Dali in August 2000. Additionally, the highway from Dali to Baoshan will be stabilized with VS. Mr Feng Ziyuan who had worked with Madam Xu's company in Guangdong Province established an independent company in Guizhou, a neighboring province to Yuannan of Southwest China, and extended his business in Yuannan Province.
1.6.3 Guangxi Province
It is quite new for VS to be used for highway embankment protection in Guangxi Province. The construction of a First Grade highway from Rong County to Cenxi was started in 1999. Manila grass was planted to protect the fills. Unfortunately collapse occurred during the raining season of 2000, which blocked the road and restricted transportation. In addition when building concrete walls and ditches, the deep-rooted vetiver grass was used at the most critical sections of K19 + 900. This is the first time that vetiver grass was used for highway stabilization in Guangxi Province. In addition, the Guangxi University provided planting materials to Yulin Prefecture Highway Bureau for their highway stabilization.
2. Vetiver System for natural disaster control
In 1997, the participants who attended the International Conference on Vetiver in Fuzhou may remember that farmers in Pingtan Island applied VS for coastal fish pond protection, and as wind break for economic tree protection. Later farmers continued to use VS for vegetation protection. Now, following the suggestion of the highway institutions VS was applied to protect a county town in Fujian Province from damage of landslide.
Qingliu County is located in the west part of Fujian province. It is a mountainous county with its county town located beside a river. Opposite the river there is a mountain. Tens of thousand people live in the town. A highway was constructed between the mountain and the river. In 1997, there were indications that almost half the mountain would slide over the highway and the river and possibly hit the town. So, thousands of people were evacuated to safety. Subsequently almost half the mountain slid onto the highway and into the river. After hundreds of thousands cubic meters of earth and rocks were removed a hot discussion was organized as to how to protect the huge cuts which were about 20000 m2. Traditionally, the cuts should be protected by concrete to stabilize the slope and prevent further slide, which not only costs a lot but also cause an environmental problem. The county people did not want to see a huge concrete wall when they open their doors. According to the suggestion from Provincial Highway Bureau, they finally decided to adopt VS to protect the cuts in addition to build limited concrete frame at the most critical section.
Vetiver grass was planted in March and April 1999. There were two contour planted rows as a group, spacing 20 cm within a row and 25 cm between two rows, and 75 cm between 2 groups. Investigation showed that the survival rate reached 95%. The roots developed very well and it was impossible for an ordinary person to pull out for a single clump just one month after planting. A dense living fence formed after 3 - 4 months. As the huge cut was pure semi-weathered parent materials containing very little soil, the grass did not grow as well as in other locations. However, it did provide a good protection function because the roots developed well on such position with little water and nutrients. The whole cost for vetiver planting was only 45000 Yuan RMB (about US$ 5487), plus the costs of planting materials (0.1 Yuan/per tiller). The cost was only 50% of that using other kind of grasses. The only tectonics they used was to dip the roots with clay paste before planting, bury the roots with 6-8 cm think extra soil above the original, and watering. To promote further growth fertilizer and water was applied in 2000 and the grass grew much better.
3. Other applications
It is quite difficult to collect full information on VS development in 2000. The followings are some examples:
1) The grass was planted on a river bank in Jianyang County of Fujian Province. It was planted in February 2000. When observed in July, it had reached 70 - 80 cm high, except that some of the grass had been washed away by the flooding. It was replanted in September.
2) In Pingtan (Fujian), farmers have great interest in planting the grass. They continue to plant the grass to stabilize the fish ponds as well as to prevent sediment from flowing into the ponds, because the sediment causes great problem to baby fishes. Also farmers started to plant the grass along the ridges of their plots to protect vegetables and crops from the damage from strong wind.
3) Farmers joined together voluntarily and organized private groups to contract projects with engineering institutions. They also contract and encourage other farmers to plant vetiver and provide planting materials.
4) In Guangxi Province the Guangxi University propagated seedlings and distributed the planting materials to numerous different institutions, such as medical plant garden, forestry farm, forestry extension stations, and forestry bureau. Many cities and counties were involved, such as Nanning, Yulin, Tiandun, Tianlin, Rong County, etc. Vetiver was planted on sandy soil where there was a barren area for 150,000 Mu (15 Mu = 1 hectar) to be reclaimed.
4. Planting material production in large scale
4.1 Great demand for planting materials
There were a lot of other great developments throughout the country in 2000, in addition to institutions mentioned above. Along with highways, vetiver was also used for dam stabilization and quarry re-vegetation in Guangdong Province, for copper mine tailings and golden mines in Jiangxi and Fujian Provinces respectively. As a result, there appeared an unprecedented shortage in planting materials in the spring of 2000. All of the planting materials in Fujian and Jiangxi, the two largest production provinces, were sold out. The price for per tiller increased from 5 cents RMB to over 15 cents RMB. To meet the needs of planting materials, many new private sectors in Fujian started to establish nurseries in large scale in the spring of 2000 and in the autumn of 1999. Experiences showed that planting tillers during the autumn can help the production of planting material faster.
4.2 High quality propagation center in Zhejiang Province
The project started vetiver planting in early 1999. They got healthy planting materials in spring from Pingtan Island of Fujian Province based on careful observation and selection of almost all nurseries in Fujian Province. During the observation they realized that the quality of planting materials were essential to their projects. With the planting materials the first thing to be considered was to establish a high quality nursery. They selected a flat land with irrigation facilities and sandy loam texture for reproduction purpose in XiaoShan of Hangzhou city. The land had been generated by enclosing tideland 13 years ago, planted with cotton for some years. Because ground water table was high about one meter below surface, they prepared standard ridges and high beds. Before planting, they prepared specifications in order to produce high quality tillers.
General speaking, the nursery was extremely well managed, and the tillers were in excellent quality. The clump has a strong root system distributed in the soil around 140 cm in diameter. There were 80 -120 thick tillers per clump. Almost all managment activities were carefully recorded in addition to weather condition. To produce more tillers they planted the grass at different times, almost throughout the whole growing season.
5. Research, experiments, new tests and findings
5.1 Pig farm water decontamination
A comprehensive research on the application of vetiver to deal with pig farm induced waste water was finished in South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou in 2000 through a doctoral program. It included several parts: The current situation of pig production and pig farm induced waste water; vetiver for pig farm induced wetland improvement; selection and evaluation of plants; decontamination ability of vetiver and Cyperus alternifolius; anatomical feature showed that vetiver can adapt ecological change from dry land to wet land; vetiver produced high bio-mass (underground bio-mass in particular); the effect of harvesting method on decontamination ability, effect of hydraulic retention time and waste water concentration on the removal of NH3-N and S-PO4-; factors influencing pig farm inducing wet land decontamination ability, etc. ( The detailed report is available).
5.2 Jiji grass research
Under generous funding from The Wallace Genetic Foundation, a comprehensive research on Jiji grass (Achnatherum Splendens (trin.) Nerski), a grass which can tolerate extreme cold and dry climate, was implemented, which included extensive field observation, laboratory analysis, green house experiments, etc.
5.2.1 Ecological distribution:
General speaking we may divide distribution area into three ecozones in China, all the three ecozones are on the plateau region in northwest China:
A) On the flat plain where ground water is high and usually contain salt we can find large area of natural distribution of jiji as natural grasslands. Under these conditions jiji is reproduced from seeds.
B) On undulating hills at more western region where soil has much less moisture and contains stones, usually called chestnut soil and brown soil, the grass is scattered. The major function is for dune stabilization and desertification prevention.
C) On eroded gully area of Loess Plateau, the grass grow on the edges of gullies and steep Loess walls to stabilize the gully and prevent them extending. This is our study area and subject.
It is also confirmed that Jiji is fond of growing on the edges of gully area. In these area the grass grew better and has deep roots. It is very important characteristic, because it can stop gully extension.
It is evident that the grass is only distributed in the villages which are situated in gully area with different elevations, i.e. Some houses are located on a small plot located above the roofs of other houses. We rarely found Jiji in villages located on flat land.
5.2.2 Function and utilization
Many observations showed that the grass is good for erosion control, and gully stabilization in particular. In addition to grazing, farmers plant Jiji around their new houses to reduce soil moisture and to dry their houses. Again the grass on the earthy roof of their houses can reduce moisture and stabilize the roof. The grass is also used to make sieves, as a boundary of a piece of land, and to make barns.
5.2.3 Shade tolerance
Although the grass is fond of sunshine, it can grow well under shade. Further, it grows even better under trees possibly because soil moisture may be better where there is less sunshine and evaporation. We found this in Inner Mongolia, and confirmed in Shanxi Province.
5.2.4 Drought tolerance
It is approved that the grass is very drought tolerant. In very dry area such as in Shanxi Province with annual rainfall of 240 mm, the grass can grow on the top of earth wall which is situated on the steep slopes.
Detailed and comprehensive research results and more information will be reported shortly.
5.3 Vetiver tests in northern China
5.3.1 Luliang Prefecture on Loess Plateau
Vetiver is tolerant to drought and flooding and a wide range of heavy metals. The key limitation for its growth is low temperature, although it can tolerant to - 15.9� C.
In May 1999, 10,000 tillers of vetiver were transported to Luliang Prefecture (around N 37.5�, E 111�) of Shanxi Province on the Loess Plateau from Fujian Province. It was planted on both slope land and terraces in Liulin County on 25 May, spacing 10 x 10 cm. As the soil was very dry, small holes was dug and irrigated on 12 June and 20 July respectively. Investigation at the end of June showed that the grass on the slope was not alive, while that on the terrace had a survival rate of 40%. At the end of August, the grass was 32-60 cm high with 12 tiller/clump in maximum. Before winter, the grass was irrigated again and buried with soil to protect freezing. However, investigation in March 2000 the grass was completely died.
It is considered that the key factor causing its death was low temperature. The lowest temperature was - 20.8� C in 1999 in that place, with a frozen topsoil layer of 46 cm. There were 12 days with temperature –18� to –20� C. This long-term low temperature could not be tolerated by the grass.
Besides, drought was another factor. The planting slips was transported in bags which were ventilated. When the grass arrived at Luliang some of them had died. The soil that had been attached to the roots had separated from roots. In addition there was little rainfall in 1999, 241 mm compared with the average annual precipitation of 540 mm.
To sum up, vetiver can not tolerate long term freezing. It is recommended that vetiver planting be confined to the Yangtze River Basin and the area to its south where the grass thrives.
5.3.2 Nanyang and Lanzhou
A test in Nanyang City (N33�, E112.5�) of Henan province showed that vetiver grass can survive there and can stand the winter. In spring of 2000 vetiver was introduced to Lanzhou (N36�, E104�) the capital of Gansu Province. It was planted at several locations in northern and southern parts of the province. No conclusions as to its growth and survival can be made until spring 2000.
5. 4 Different management needed for cuts and fills
Vetiver grass can be planted on both cuts and fills of the embankments. However, when we observe the applications implemented in the recent years in Fujian and Zhejiang Provinces we found that there is great difference in some places. General speaking, vetiver grew very well on fills. The only problem was that we should replant the grass when it was washed away during the heavy rain and should repair the new eroded gullies during the first few months after planting. But for the cuts, huge cuts in particular, the situation is quite different. The soil, slope gradient and aspects varied dramatically. In some sections soil was thick and slope was gentle, and vetiver grew well. In other places, soil was thin with steep slopes and large amount of rock fragments. The soil contained extremely little moisture. Therefore, vetiver growth was limited. Therefore for a huge cut, different management should be applied for a specific section, i.e. more water and fertilizer should be added for some places especially during the first few months after planting, so that the grass can grow healthy and evenly. In some critical places, small terraces should be established to retain more moisture, and container seedling may be used. It also indicated there is still some issues to be studied when vetiver grass technology is applied on large scale.
Besides, the situation was different with different climate. In Fujian or other provinces in southern China the climate is sub-tropical. The heat and rainfall is less than the tropical countries. Hence, the soil horizon is relatively thin. In Philippine however, the parent rock was deeply weathered with very deep soil or weathered parent materials. There Vetiver grass grew well, even on large cuts.
5.5 Vetiver for reservoir greening up
Many reservoirs in China now are becoming tourist and recreational sites. However there is a key problem to be solved, and that is that there is a wide barren band around the reservoirs where nothing can grow caused by the fluctuation of water level, usually 20 m deep. To solve this problem the private sector tested vetiver in Guangdong province, and it was proved to be successful.
6. Information distribution and technology extension
In 2000 information services was strengthened throughout the country. CNVN did its best to extend basic vetiver technology as widely as possible through its publication vetiver newsletter in Chinese. Besides, CNVN organized a delegate of 17 members to attend the second international conference on vetiver (ICV-2) held in Thailand. A total of six papers were presented during the conference by Chinese scientists. Also, assisted by Diti Henchaovanich, the China delegates visited demonstrations in northern Thailand. After ICV-2 the Chinese Vetiver Newsletter introduced the great success obtained in ICV-2 in Thailand and other key findings in the world in 2000. Although the newsletter contains only few pages it was printed in large quantity and distributed extremely widely so that more people can get basic information and can touch CNVN.
To disseminate VS more widely, CNVN produced New Year Postcards introduced VS very briefly and distributed very widely. In this way more people can get basic vetiver information.
Among the various workshops, conferences, and training courses, the most valuable issue was that CNVN was invited by Baise Prefecture Government of Guangxi Province to introduce VS to 120 prefecture officers and county chiefs through large conferences and small workshops. They all felt that VS could solve their erosion problem, help them to save money used for slope stabilizing, and was a promising technology for poverty alleviation. The Prefecture has been a national poverty area. In the recent years they constructed many highways to facilitate marketing economy. Caused by limited funds the highways did not properly protected by HARD measures and collapse was frequently happened. The prefecture decides to established a large demonstration district and wish The Vetiver Network to deem it as one of the models in southern China.
It is meaningful to mention that in addition to information dissemination by CNVN, numerous other institutions did very good job for this purpose in the recent years. The followings are some examples:
-- National Television Station introduced VS through its `approaching science' program;
-- Many national or regional newspapers (Communications Times, Farmers Daily, East China Highway, etc.) and journal introduced VS through the efforts from engineers and scientists;
-- Various printed matters were produced by numerous private companies to introduce VS to their customers;
-- To disseminate vetiver grass technology and to help others to grasp the technology, the Pingtan Charity Association and Shangrao Highway Bureau organize training courses for farmers and engineers respectively.
-- Several local networks were established to disseminate VS and promote information exchanges. It is worthwhile indicating that a fresh issue was that in the past scientists from agriculture and water conservation introduced VS to engineers, but now the engineers themselves established network and did very good job in VS dissemination. Instead of a NETWORK, the Zhejiang Province prepared to establish a NETWORKING CENTER in order to strengthen its function. Furthermore they suggested CNVN to change its name to China Vetiver Networking Center to coordinate numerous local Centers.
-- VS dissemination through bilateral visits of engineers from different provinces. For example Zhejiang engineers visited Fujian in the spring. In return, 11 member delegate from Fujian Highway Association visited Zhejiang and Jiangxi Provinces in summer. They discussed planting technology, the management at different stages, compared the difference of geographic and climatic condition of these provinces and the effect of these factors on vetiver growth.
-- For Jiji grass technology dissemination, a survey was co-organized by Luliang Prefecture World Bank Office and CNVN to explore the potential of its application in Shanxi and Inner Mongolia Provinces. Besides, a group of 4 members from Luliang prefecture visited CNVN to discuss details on the recent research results and further arrangements.
7. Vetiver initiation in railway
That highway institutions were the first consideration to introduce VS was decided during the International Vetiver Workshop held in Fuzhou in 1997 because there were numerous highway institutions at various levels, from national to provincial and even to township level. Any institution had rights to decide if they adopt VS. But for railway, almost all institutions should `obey' their heads. Fortunately the matter is changing possibly because VS has too great attraction. The all four railway survey and design academies visited CNVN in the summer and expressed their interests in VS. Later in winter a railway company titled Xing-chang Vetiver Engineering Slope Stabilization Company was registered in Nanjing aiming at applying VS in the railways in China.
8. Preliminary preparation for ICV-3
On the suggestion of Her Royal Highness the Princess of Thailand Maha Chakri Sirindhorn (TVN Patron) The Third International Conference on Vetiver (ICV-3) for 2004 was proposed during the Second conference (ICV-2) in Cha-am Thailand, to be held in China. Immediately China Vetiver Network (CNVN) started its efforts to process the conference. During the post ICV-2 tour in Chingmai, CNVN coordinator reported the news to China Embassy to Bangkok. And later CNVN prepared an official document and submitted to the Ministry of Science and Technology through Chinese Academy of Sciences. On 12 May 2000 we got a formal reply from the ministry to approve the conference.
The most important issue is that Her Royal Highness expressed her willing to attend ICV-3. In Cha-am Thailand HRH promised to support the conference. About two months later when HRH visited Beijing she talked to China vice premier Qian Qi Chen to request the support from China government. In August CNVN coordinator went to Guangzhou to discuss ICV-3 with Guangzhou Branch of Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Consulate-general of Thailand to Guangzhou to seek possible support. Also, some new demonstrations were visited and considered to be the post conference tour sites. Besides, CNVN coordinator visited Fuzhou to seek possible support from the local government.
Moreover, the up-and-coming `youngster' the Zhejiang Highway Bureau is also starting their efforts to hold ICV-3 in Hangzhou the most beautiful city in China.
At the same time a tentative conference announcement was prepared which included the topics, timetable, location, etc.
9. Problems to be solved
One year's work showed that there will be a long way to go to disseminate VS in China. Although many highway institutions accepted VS, it was still limited to few provinces out of the 15 Provinces in the tropical or subtropical region. Some remote area needs to be introduced, most of the latter areas remain in poverty and need the technology more urgently. Some departments, mining for example, need extension. Some solid research is badly needed before people can accept the technology. The typical instance is for river bank protection. The Network should be strengthened. As a large county, a networking system is needed, which should include national, provincial, and prefecture. For Jiji grass, more tests are needed before its application. It is suggested that more work should be done in the southwest area to introduce and demonstrate VS and to solve their questions and problems. Experience showed us that workshop and conference are very useful for information distribution, it is expected to hold such conference again before ICV-3 in 2004.