Vetiver grass tech launched to help stop erosion
MANGALDAN–The Vetiver Grass Technology (VGT), which helps prevent soil erosion and thus avert flashfloods, was launched here last week through the initiative of 4th District Rep. Gina de Venecia.
De Venecia, who was a guest last December 11 at the second World Summit on Ecological Safety in Bali, Indonesia, said she put forward this proposal as one means of addressing the impact of global warming.
The VGT will be adopted in this town to strengthen the river banks and earth dikes in 12 barangays where the Angalacan River traverses, including Guesang, Landas, Navaluan, Osiem, Nibaliw, Tebag, Salaan, Pogo, Palua, Macayug, Inlambo and Embarcadero.
Municipal Agricultural Officer Roberto Tamondong will lead the VGT adoption program.
VGT has been successfully tested in other countries, including Vietnam, Nigeria, Venezuela, Australia and China.
“The VGT was first developed by the World Bank for soil and water conservation in farmlands… According to a study by the Queensland Department of Natural Resources, vetiver grass has an extensive and thick root system that binds the soil and at the same time makes it very difficult to be dislodged under high velocity flows of water,” De Venecia cited.
Vetiver grass has also been proven to withstand prolonged submergence in flood water and its vertical root system, with minimal lateral root growth, ensure that it will not compete with cash crops for nutrients.
Parts of the 4th District were devastated by flashfloods in previous typhoons.
In October 1999, some 50 hectares of agricultural land and 29 houses along the Bued river in Binday, San Fabian were swept away by rampaging flood water and similar devastation happened in Sitio Pontok in Bonuan Binloc in 2010, when a hectare of land was washed off by the overflowing Cayanga River due to a seasonal typhoon.
To prevent the recurrence of these destructive calamities, De Venecia earlier prioritized the construction of the P36 million spur dikes in Binday in San Fabian town and the P20 million spur dikes in Sitio Pontok, Dagupan City.–Eva Visperas
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