[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Vetiver Network Homepage



http://www.vetiver.com/
-- 
Lawrence F. London, Jr.  Venaura Farm
http://metalab.unc.edu/intergarden
/permaculture /intergarden/orgfarm /ecolandtech
lflondon@mindspring.com  london@metalab.unc.edu
Title: Vetiver Network Homepage

THE VETIVER NETWORK     

NOTE TO ALL USERS.

UNDERLINED TEXT, WHATEVER COLOR, REPRESENTS AN EMDEDDED LINK AND WILL BE RESPONSIVE WHEN CLICKED

USE YOUR BROWSER FORWARD AND BACKWARD BUTTONS TO MOVE BETWEEN FILES


SEARCH ENGINE


WHAT'S NEW


ABOUT VETIVER


FTP SITE


INDEX OF VETIVER PAPERS


REGIONAL AND NATIONALVETIVER NETWORKWEB SITES

CHINA

EURO-MED

LATIN AMERICA

MADAGASCAR

PACIFIC RIM

SOUTHERN AFRICA

THAILAND

VIETNAM


OTHER KEY SITES

ANNOUNCEMENTS

EDITOR'S PAGE

FRENCH - FRANCAIS

LIBRARY

LINKS TO OTHER SITES

SITE MAP

SPANISH - ESPANOL

PHOTO GALLERY

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

REGIONAL AND COUNTRY NETWORKS

VETIVER HANDBOOK (THE GREEN BOOK)

VETIVER CONSULTANTS

VETIVER PLANT MATERIAL SUPPLIES

VETIVER NETWORK (TVN) STAFF AND DIRECTORS


PowerFlour


THE VETIVER NETWORK

PROMOTES THE USE

OF

VETIVER GRASS

THE CONSERVATION AND ENGINEERING TOOL FOR THE 21st CENTURY

The Vetiver Network
is a non profit and tax exempt organization, managed by professionals, with the objective of disseminating information on the use of VETIVER GRASS for soil and water conservation, land rehabilitation, embankment stabilization and pollution control. We also include other selected technologies that we think are important and applicable to related aspects of the natural resources management.

The Vetiver Network is supported by the The Royal Danish Government, The Wallace Genetic Foundation, the World Bank, anomynous UK Trust, and vetiver users around the world.


What is the Vetiver Grass Technology


PRIORITY -- THIS IS A MUST!!!

South China -- Stabilization of Highway fill and cut slopes in Guangdong Province


Vetiver Grass Technology (VGT) for engineering purposes. Leesburg, Virginia. November 6, 1999

I am just back from two and a half weeks in south China attending a workshop organized by Liyu Xu, the Coordinator of the China Vetiver Network (CVN), for highway engineers. It was a great experience working with him and Paul Truong (Australia ) and Diti Hengchanovich (Thailand). More than half the time was spent visiting sites in Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangdong Provinces that have been stabilized with VGT. Read Liyu Xu's report for more detail.

During the past few years China has added over 30,000 km of major roads to her inventory. Many of these are in the south of the country. Apart from the great length these highways often pass through rugged terrain involving massive fill and cut engineering. It is estimated that over 80% of the point source erosion comes from these and other infrastructure developments in China's south eastern provinces. As a result there are huge stabilization and re-greening problems to deal with. The normal Chinese approach is to stabilize with local grasses (that are not deep rooted) and or use stone masonary to face the cut and fill. Linked to this construction are large and unrehabilitated stone quarries that add to sediments flows and remain an environmental eyesore.

 

This is a typical scene in the mountains of Fujian and Jiangxi -- cut and fill slope unprotected and eroding fast. Near by is a failed and costly effort to protect the slope with concrete.

 

 

Above left: a fill slope planted to vetiver in October 1997. Now fully stable.

Above right: A fill slope planted to vetiver in March 1999 (8 months old). Note the large sediment deposits below the wall that are sourced from adjacent unprotected areas.

Below right: Vetiver at over 2 meters after 8 months planted on very unstable fill embankment

Below left: 20,000 sq meters of vetiver planted in October 1999 on the cut slope of a super highway (World Bank financed) near Fuzhou, Fujian. Virtually 100% survival rate from bare rooted planting.

Over the past three years the highway departments of the provinces have been testing VGT and the results are convincing and impressive.

In Guangdong a cut and fill slope on a highway near Guangzhou planted by Xia Hanping in 1996 is now fully stable. Vetiver was interplanted with Acacia mangium seedlings. These trees are now over 20 ft high and the area has been turned into a dense woodland. Most of the vetiver has been shaded out. But it did its job in providing initial stabilization and a better environment for the trees to grow.

As a result of this work and other work it appears that there is lot of opportunity to expand the use of VGT to highways throughout south China, and to use it for the reclamation and re-greening of the many quarries that have been opened to supply materials for the massive construction program that has taken place in China since the market reforms were initiated.

A major limitation to the expansion of VGT is the lack of trained and experienced landscapers. This can be rectified through technical training workshops for existing and new landscaping companies. We see a big increase in demand for VGT, which means that small farmers will get involved as suppliers of quality plant material (training needed here too).

What we are seeing in south China is an emerging pattern of increased use of VGT for engineering purposes. Companies have been established in Central America, Philippines, Malaysia, Australia, and South Africa to produce large quantities of plant material and to apply the technology to construction sites. The rate of demand is likely to go up as more companies are established and they market the technology to highway designers and highway owners. A paper just published on this homepage shows that in Australia (a high priced labor market) financial savings are estimated at over 60% when VGT is used over conventional methods. In China the savings are 90%+!!

Other areas of potential for VGT in China and other tropical countries is VGT's ability to stabilize acid sulphate soils in coastal areas, rehabilitation of mines, and stabilizing of river banks, dikes and levees. In China, Bangladesh, and Vietnam millions of dollars are spent annually on maintaining the levees of major rivers. VGT could be used to reduce these costs.

Also published at this time on the home page are new papers that confirm VGT application for mine stabilization, wetlands, infrastructure, and the removal of surplus pesticides from cotton and sugar cane fields in Australia.

VGT is on the move; those of you whose main focus is to use VGT for on farm soil and water conservation should look at some of these other applications, because as the demand for them grow, so will the demand for vetiver planting stock, most of which will be produced by small farmers.

Dick Grimshaw

What's New ?

FOR MORE OF THE LATEST INFORMATION ABOUT VETIVER GRASS GO TO RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

This page established in November 1995,

since then it has been visited Hit Counter times
Last updated    11/12/99