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"Thank you for your recommendation and I take it as a great honor. I will of course accept, and hope that in doing so I can live up to it and contribute to the mission.

"I must say that, since coming into contact with TVNI, I have never ceased to be inspired by the people I have met or read or communicated with. In my view, the spirit of TVNI is almost unique in its commitment to sharing, supporting each other, and openness. So many times organizations are riven with competition, rivalry, egotism, or self-interest - and here is TVNI which is an example to all of how we can work together, sharing information, knowledge, and experience with people we have never met and may never meet, because of our commitment to a common good.  Apart from our belief in what Vetiver can contribute, it is that commitment to open exchange which is a shining example to people working in all fields of development work."

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Back in August last year, Peter Hernández, Operations Manager of the Gargiulo commercial farming operation in Puerto Rico, agreed to try Vetiver as a windbreaker for their tomato fields. Gargiulo has been using sugar cane hedges to cut back the dust that blows into their tomato production fields. With 900 acres of land, 600 of which are in actual production, dust damage can be a very costly environmental factor that must be effectively controlled. Although the sugar cane has proven effective as a wind barrier, this cane must be harvested and replanted annually at substantial cost.  In the old days, the biomass left over from sugar cane harvesting was burned and plowed back into the fields. Air quality legislation no longer allows this disposal method, and all this biomass must be spread on otherwise useful land and allowed to dry and decompose over many years. Gargiulo and Agriflora Tropicals agreed that a better solution was needed.

Two 500-plant trials were planted on June 24 and August 6, 2009.  Both locations were planted as double Vetiver rows that were later continued as double sugar cane rows, that being the standard Gargiulo practice.  The Picasa album Vetiver as Windbreaker, Gargiulo Puerto Rico documents the successful implementation of the Vetiver barriers.  The latest pictures, taken on January 13, 2010, show that the Vetiver has achieved about two-thirds of the sugar cane height with a denser, more wind-resistant, body mass.  Contrary to sugar cane, Vetiver hedges will be permanent and will require minimal care and maintenance for many years.  Vetiver biomass, should Gargiulo choose to cut any of it, can be used as mulching or plowed back into fields providing additional value.

In Puerto Rico, Gargiulo produces 1.5 million 25-lb boxes of top quality tomatoes per harvest. Vetiver may also help Gargiulo address various soil conservation problems where sugar cane was never a solution, and may increase field productivity by increasing soil moisture and acting as a trap crop to flying insects.  Agriflora Tropicals will continue to work with Gargiulo to evaluate and implement these Vetiver bioengineering solutions during this year.

Vetiver as Windbreaker, Gargiulo Puerto Rico

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Gracias al esfuerzo de Oscar Rodríguez de Venezuela, la versión final del Manual Técnico del Sistema Vetiver en español ya ha sido publicada.  Este manual esta disponible al público por un costo de US$15.00 a través de la Página de Publicaciones del Vetiver Network International (TVNI).  Ediciones en Inglés, Francés y Swahili también estan disponibles allí, al igual que otras publicaciones importantes sobre la planta Vetiver.


El costo de estos manuales técnicos esta pautado para aumentar a US$20.00 muy pronto.  Las personas interesadas deben aprovechar el precio actual.
Thanks to the efforts of Oscar Rodriguez from Venezuela, the final Spanish version of the Vetiver System Technical Reference Manual is now published.  The manual is available to the public for $15.00 from the Publications Page of The Vetiver Network International (TVNI).  Editions in English, French, and Swahili are also available there, as well as other important publications about the Vetiver plant.

The price of these technical manuals is scheduled to increase to US$20.00 very soon. If you are interested, take advantage of the current price.

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Showing  Vetiver roots in a picture or in a slide show is what most of us do when we give a presentation about our plants.  Fernando Costa Pinto of Biofabrica JAFM in Brazil does not take the easy way out.  For his display at the 2009 SOBRADE Congress on November 2009, Fernando decided to show the real thing.

My Picasa album, Vetiver roots excavation in Brazil and my YouTube video show, step-by-step, the ordeal of the excavation process required to exhibit these 10-foot roots.  Vetiver is known for grabbing onto the soil and not letting go.  These photos prove that beyond any doubt.  Thank you, Fernando, for this unique demonstration!

SOBRADE stands for Sociedade Brasileira de Recuperação de Áreas Degradadas and the congress took place Novermber 9-13 on Curitiba, Brazil.  An attendance of 380 members from 15 countries gave this event significant global importance.  Vetiver plays an important role in this context of land rehabilitation and Biofabrica JAFM in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil is a major contributor in that difficult field. 

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Last March, The Vetiver Network International (TVNI) helped sponsor a Vetiver System workshop in Ethiopia. It seems that somebody listened. Dick Grimshaw, Chairman of TVNI shared a message that he received from Belayneh Adugna, the Up-Scaling Component Coordinator and Soil and Water Conservation Specialist of GTZ-Amhara Sustainable Land Management Program. Belayneh Adugna said:

The progress made so far to scale-up the Vetiver System in Amhara region is promising. Many government and non government organizations who are working in the area of soil and water conservation are giving due attention to promote Vetiver as the best solution for agricultural development and natural resources conservation. Vetiver nurseries are established in each corner of the region. Even private farmers are producing Vetiver planting materials and generating income by selling Vetiver seedlings.

Moreover, the Vetiver System is the top in the agenda of options for sustainable land management and included in the governments extension technologies package. So, I am sure we can make a difference in this country through the application of the Vetiver System. Actually we need to do a lot of capacity building works at all levels.

Dick Grimshaw commented: "It is a real pleasure to see the progress being made in Ethiopia with the continued expansion of the Vetiver System for soil and water conservation. There is a lot written and talked about relating to combating climate change in Africa and improving agricultural production.

"The possibilities of irrigation are very limited as compared to south and east Asia. Africa has to optimize her rain-fed agriculture - a primary concern must be erosion control, soil nutrient retention, and in-situ soil and water conservation. The Vetiver System is proving to be the least costly and most effective method of achieving these objectives. If widely applied it might indeed prove to be a precursor to a new "Green Revolution" for tropical agriculture."

I am hoping that the rest of the world will not wait for near-disaster conditions before implementing sensible soil conservation practices. Anybody else listening?

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