The Vetiver Network International

Vetiver and Permaculture (TVNI-NL-2024-01)

This month’s newsletter gives some focus to vetiver, and its role as a potentially important component in permaculture practices, regenerative agriculture and the restoration of degraded lands, particularly in tropical and semiarid areas of the world. Those who know intimately the value of using Vetiver Grass Technology (VGT) for its multiple applications and many benefits have to ask why more people are not using the technology to meet the challenges of climate change  as they relate to soil health, degrading lands and water, and poverty.… Read the rest “Vetiver and Permaculture (TVNI-NL-2024-01)”

Vetiver Grass Technology at Scale and at a Landscape Level. (TVNI-NL-2023-12)

Under current policies and practices, the process of restoring the health of soils and the Global Hydrological Cycle (both are critical to plant growth, and the very survival of plants and animals (including Homo sapiens!), is going to take a very long time – decades, if not generations. One way of accelerating the process might be to put in place policies that involve community action that focus on the protection and restoration of those natural resources that fall within community related watersheds and sub-watersheds.… Read the rest “Vetiver Grass Technology at Scale and at a Landscape Level. (TVNI-NL-2023-12)”

National Coordinators for Mexico and Ecuador

As recently announced by Rafael Luque, Coordinator of the Latin American Vetiver Network, Antonio Carrillo Bolea, from Mexico, and Piet Sabbe, from Ecuador, have stepped forward and volunteered to be the National Vetiver Coordinators for their respective countries. Those of you who have followed the work being done by some of the truly outstanding Vetiverites globally and/or in Latin America, will certainly be familiar with Piet Sabbe. Piet is one of the pioneers of Vetiver System in Latin America, having begun back in the mid-1990s with the restoration of what came to be called the “Parque Bambú” – 15 ha of degraded, denuded, and exhausted land in the western foothills of the Andes in the north of Ecuador.… Read the rest “National Coordinators for Mexico and Ecuador”

Stiff Grass Hedgerows (Barriers) and Contour Cultivation are Key to Watershed Improvements

TVNI, as a knowledge based organization, has a primary goal of promoting the Vetiver System (VS) across several economic and natural resource sectors. It is possible to do this because of the unique character of Vetiver grass (Chrysopogon zizanioides) that provides the basis for a wide range of applications, most of which significantly impact soil and water. The plant has deep penetrating roots that improve the soil shear strength by as much as 40+% and the ability within the rhizosphere to capture and cycle soil nutrients critical to plant growth.… Read the rest “Stiff Grass Hedgerows (Barriers) and Contour Cultivation are Key to Watershed Improvements”

Vetiver Grass Regenerative Farming Training in Lela Village, Siaya County, 2023

RAPPORTEUR –Notes taken by Pauline Saris, program coordinator ACTIVITY OVERVIEW Sustainable Village Resources (SVR) is a registered CBO in Kenya. We work with marginalized stay at home communities whose main livelihood depends on the small pieces of land they own. Some do handicraft while others venture into small scale poultry. Bottom line is their main source of income is the small pieces of land. We sought to get them from living on hand to mouth and get them to a sustainable living where they can get nutritious food and get economically empowered  while ensuring food security from their  land.… Read the rest “Vetiver Grass Regenerative Farming Training in Lela Village, Siaya County, 2023”