Solution to perennial flood and erosion problem lies in Vetiver grass: ATMA

From a Correspondent

DHUBRI, Jan 31: Appropriate Technology Mission of Assam (ATMA), an NGO, has claimed to get an appropriate technology to stop erosion and flood of river Brahmaputra in the form of a grass species called vetiver. ATMA informed that Chrysopogon zizanioides, commonly known as Vetiver, is a perennial bunch grass of Poaceae family and tive to India. The Vetiver is most closely related to Sorghum but shares many morphological characteristics with other fragrant grasses, such as lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) and citronella (Cymbopogon rdus), it said. The organization said that it had studied the growth and its effectiveness against erosion of Brahmaputra valley and found that Vetiver grows to 150 centimetres (5 ft) height and forms clumps as wide.

Under favourable conditions, the erect culms can reach 3 metre in height. The stems are tall and the leaves are long, thin, and rather rigid. The flowers are brownish-purple and unlike most grasses which form horizontally spreading and mat-like root systems, Vetiver’s roots grow downward, 2 metres (7 ft) to 4 metres (13 ft) in depth, it said.

Talking to The Sentinel, Director of ATMA, Paimal Kumar Das explained the qualities of Vetiver and said that plant stems are erect and stiff, and they can persist deep water flow, while under clear water, the plant can survive up to two months, and the root system of vetiver is finely structured and very strong.

“It can grow up to 3 metres (10 ft) to 4 metres (13 ft) deep within the first year. Vetiver has no stolon nor rhizomes. And because of all these unique characteristics and properties in it, the vetiver plant has proved to be highly drought-tolerant and can help to protect soil against sheet erosion. In case of sediment despite, new roots can grow out of buried nodes,” Das further explained.

Das said that this was the cheapest anti-erosion measure and technology available which hitherto had neither been tested nor used to protect land from erosion. Assam’s economy has been shattered since Independence because of mismagement of the Brahmaputra after 1950. Deposition initiated erosion and flood in the entire Brahmaputra, Das alleged.

 Das while resenting over the magnitude of loss since 1950, informed that  5 lakh hectares of land at 8 lakh hectares per year were eroded into river, 2.70 per cent of the indigenous people lost their land homestead properties and spoilt the environment while Rs 3 lakh crore had allegedly been misappropriated in the me of flood and erosion.

 Under the above circumstances, the objectives of the Brahmaputra Bachao  Andolan (BBA) that ATMA has been spearheading for the last 30 years, is to build a data bank of technologies for magement of flood and erosion and to facilitate dissemition of information. It has to conduct studies in the field of appropriate technology for magement of flood and erosion, to create awareness about the appropriate technologies available in the form of vetiver in collaboration with Pan Global IIT Alumni Association, Intertiol River Network (IRN) and World Commission on Dams and Intertiol Commission on Large Dams, Das further informed.