"Vetiver Grass"

Natural - Structured Engineering
     
            Hardly can anyone deny that nature has created everything proportionately but to exist eternally depends on how human beings make use of the nature  and how they apply technology and knowledge to use with it inappropriately.Nowadays nature has sent warning signals periodically such as increasing temperature of the earth, green house effect, including various forms of natural phenomena.
           This crisis makes people all over the world turn their attention to use nature to cure itself   because there isn't any side effect resulting from using natural equilibrium.  For Thailand, the urgent problem to be solved is soil, an important factor in every life existence,  of which the deterioration starts to be continually severe because of in appropriate using soil resources .   Deforestation causes soil erosion,  resulting in low crop yields and agriculturalists having harsh life.
             Vetiver Grass,  an auspicious plant in agriculture,  is another way of using nature to take care itself.The King of Thailand has paved the way to have it studied and experimented for soil and water conservation since 1991. This is due to the fact that it has a special quality which benefits soil and water conservation in many ways such as preventing soil erosion because it has deep-rooted fibrous roots with good anchorage as if it is an engineering structure created by nature.  It can also absorb moisture in the soil,  grow in bad soil,  skeleton soil and can resist flooding for a long period of time.
             It also helps keeping soil or building it up because the recommended way of doing is to plant it continuously in rows. If the plant dies, replacement must be done in order to avoid space created. The line of Vetiver Grass helps reducing the speed of water while sediments, remnants of leaves and plant will remain along the line of Vetiver Grass and become soil later on.  Vetiver Grass also helps prolonging construction such as roads, dams, irrigation canals…etc., because it helps preventing soil in front of dams, above dams for irrigation purpose from eroding and also helps minimizing damages from sediments deposited.
            Up to now the Land Development Department,Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operative of Thailand,has done researches and experiments in order to find ways to benefit from Vetiver Grass for more than 8 years in terms of technique of reproduction, planting, including making use of    Vetiver Grass in the aspects of agriculture,  of reducing the impact on the environment and of producing products from it. This makes agriculturists all over accept the fact that growing Vetiver Grass is the easiest,   most suitable and economical way to prevent soil from eroding.

 

 
 
The results form above-mentioned researches can be summarized as follows:
              (1) Among 78 domestic, foreign and the King-given breeds, 28 breeds has been selected out of them. Each breed is suitable to grow in different soils and environments all over Thailand.   Among them ,  the Department also studies and selects the breeds that grow in areas all over Thailand that have problems with such as sandy, skeleton soil etc.,   It has found that there are 10 groups that are suitable  -  6  breeds  of Vetiver  Grass grown in highland which are  Kamphang Petch 1.Loei, Nakorn Sawan, Prajuab Kirikhan, Ratchburi and Roi Et and 4 breeds of Vetiver Grass grown in lowland which are Kamphang Petch 2, Songkhla 3, Sri Lanka and Surat Thani.
              (2) The findings from studying ways to propagate Vetiver Grass indicate that Vetiver Grass can be propagated by roots, stems, tissue cultures and suitable planting.  The study has resulted in reproduction of 200 million seedlings for the past year.  The land Development Department can be counted as number one in having the most Vetiver Grass in the world.  Moreover,  the Department has distributed them to agriculturalists, interested public and given them advice how to grow them properly.   Vetiver Grass must be grown in rows along its level line with the distance between each one of  5 - 10  cm  according to the suitability of the soil.  For the distance between the rows.  The vertical difference should be about 1 - 3  meters,  depending on the slopes and types of plants that will be grown. The best time to grow should be during the rainy season of June to August.
             (3) From the study of the effect   of  Vetiver Grass on soil erosion indicated that  planting  Vetiver Grass can prevent soil from eroding.   The beds in which Vetiver is grown helped the soil   from eroding away or if any erosion occurs, it will not exceed 200 kg/rai per year (1 acre = 2.52 rai) .  Vetiver Grass can be grown in any slope - agriculture area,  watercourse,  hillside, pond edge, or reservoir edge.
 
            Another significant finding is that Vetiver Grass can loosen the soil,    help the soil in having good structure and obviously  help  increasing  the amount of useful organisms in the soil. Vetiver can   be beneficial in other ways: its leaves can be used to cover soil in order to keep moisture in  the  soil and can be used as roofs;       it can be mixed with soil and cement for using as construction materials; it can be mixed with polymer for using as equipment and furniture;    its roots can be extracted for oil and perfume.
 
         The result of devotion,   study and researches contributed to the success of the Land Development Department in receiving " The King of Thailand Vetiver awards" ( Research on Methodologies for Selection, Propagation and Cultivation Techniques of Vetiver Grass and Its Application in Thailand).   This is considered an outstanding work which brings fame and confidence to the public who receive the service.
   
Vetiver Grass is considered another conclusion chapter that letting
nature take care itself creates the equilibrium of inter-dependence of everything.
 
For more information
Please contact
Land Development Region
Land Development Station
Public Relations Sub-division, Office of the Secretary
Land Development Department, Phaholyothin Road, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900 Thailand Tel. 0-2579-8515
E-mail : ofs_5@ldd.go.th or egd_1@ldd.go.th
Volunteer Soil Doctors
Land   Development   Department
2003 / 61   Phaholyothin Rd.   Chatuchak   Bangkok   10900    Thailand
Call : 66 - 2579 - 4132 - 40   or    66 - 2941 2131        www.ldd.go.th    or    www.gisservice.net
Copyright  2002    Land   Development   Department