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KOCHI: Vetiver or ‘Ramacham’ in local parlance is closely related to the ethnic lives of Keralites. It was used as a water purifier and fan in royal households since time immemorial. Traditional kerala homesteads used to put vetiver plants in drinking water wells and ponds to purify water and to make it cool. However Vetiver was pushed to nothingness by the onslaught of modern technologies.

Now efforts are being taken to popularise the grass technology in agriculture and soil conservation. Governer of Kerala, Mr. R L Bhatia opined that this medicinal plant with low maintenance cost was ideal for improving water quality and retaining moisture content of the soil by preventing water run off. He was speaking on the occasion of the inauguration of a national workshop on vetiver system organized by the India Vetiver Network. Many foreign delegates are participating in the three-day workshop.

Kanan Devan Hills Plantations Company (KDHP), one of the country’s large tea producers, has long adopted this amazing technology in their tea estates. While replanting the tea gardens, they put up vetiver hedges in place of the customary stone embankments to conserve soil and moisture. It is estimated to reduce the expenditure of soil and water conservation work to over 30 per cent and could be a super money saver on waste water treatment and soil conservation. The root system of vetiver is stronger than many trees and is said to have the ability to absorb even poisonous heavy metal traces in water.

The R& D wing of KDHP, under the leadership of P. Haridas, Deputy General Manager, has been conducting trials on vetiver for the last one and a half decades. “We learnt from these farmers that they have been successfully growing vetiver against soil erosion for centuries. It reduced rainfall runoff by as much as 70%, recharged groundwater and improved ephemeral stream flow.” Surprisingly villages that use vetiver have much higher water levels in their wells due to better ground water replenation Recent studies prompted the World Bank to launch The Vetiver Network (TVN), which has been disseminating vetiver technology to the world with a missionary zeal. Kerala is all set to go back to its roots by reviving the long lost vetiver technology.

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