Vetiver Victorious: The Systematic Use of Vetiver to Save Madagascar's FCE Railway

摘要

In 2000, two cyclones hit the island nation of Madagascar in a two-week period. The devastation to infrastructures was enormous. Among the worst hit was the FCE train line in the southeastern part of the country that suffered more than 280 landslides. The line was closed for three months, causing severe hardship to the more than 100 000 people living along its route. Two Thai vetiver specialists went to Madagascar soon after the cyclones to investigate the possible uses of vetiver in restoring the rail line and protecting it from future erosion damage. In the three years since, the Land Development Intervention (LDI) and FCER projects, in collaboration with the FCE Railway, have worked to systematically disseminate vetiver along the line, both in a technical intervention designed to restore areas hit by severe land slides, and in a community-based intervention that has enlisted more than 600 farmers in slope stabilization activities along the train line. Using an innovative "vetiver-for-vetiver loan/reimbursement" scheme and a "modular cropping" system that have facilitated dissemination and implementation with farmers over a three-year period, more than 2.6 million vetiver slips have been planted along the 163 km long train line. This has significantly reduced erosion damage and strengthened slopes and infrastructures along the line. The vetiver intervention also provides farmers with a sustainable agriculture alternative to traditional slash-and-burn practices, enhances soil fertility and improves farmers' income. The success achieved has prompted an adoption of these vetiver intervention techniques by another railway line in the northern part of Madagascar.