Vetiver grass: help us save Lake Nakivale

The entire population of the Nakivale Refugee Settlement depends on the water of Lake Nakivale for their survival, but the lake's water level and quality are diminishing

I visited the Nakivale Refugee Settlement in February last year for the first time, having been coaching refugee women farmers for over a year virtually on climate resilient farming. When I actually got there in person, I was dismayed to realize that Lake Nakivale, the lake that all 140,000+ inhabitants of the region depend upon for all of their water needs, is losing both water quality and quantity.

The lake sits in the bottom of a wetland. It is not fed by a stream, it simply fills from the water that accumulates in a low part of the basin. All around the lake, a huge amount of bare compacted soil allows sediment to wash down the land, filling in the lake and diminishing water quality. In the photo above you can see the green area bordering the lake. That is where the water level was just last year and it hasn’t completely dried up yet. An increasing number of refugees are using the lake water to drink, wash and water their crops.

Not only is the lake threatened, farmers who do subsistence farming can’t improve the water holding capacity of their gardens as I was trying to teach them, because there is not enough plant biomass to cover the soils with mulch or make good quality compost. They were unable to put into practice the regenerative agriculture methods I was advocating to make them more resilient to the increasing climate extremes of droughts and flooding. When there’s too much rain it washes the soil away into the lake and when it’s too dry the plants bake in the carbon poor soil.

But we have a plan that could remediate this alarming situation! Vetiver grass is an amazing non-invasive plant that could help fix all of these issues. Native to India and south east Asia, vetiver is tolerant to poor soil and extreme conditions. It can survive in temperatures from 15C to 55C and survive prolonged drought. Because of its deep root system, it stabilizes the soil and allows water to penetrate deep into the ground. This is exactly what is missing around Lake Nakivale. Rainwater is not sinking into the ground and filling the groundwater reserves. Instead it is washing the soil down and filling in the lake. Vetiver is excellent for controlling erosion around lakes. It can also help the lake to refill as more water seeps into the ground being filtered by plant roots.

Vetiver also has benefits for the farmers of the refugee settlement. The grass is useful for feeding animals, it can be cut and used for mulch to keep the water from evaporating from the soil. It can also be cut and dried to make aerobic, good quality compost. Not only will vetiver grass protect the lake and sequester more water, it will also sequester a significant amount of carbon in the soil with its incredible deep root system.

I am excited to have found an affordable solution to begin to establish vetiver grass around Lake Nakivale. With the UMOJA Foundation we have 17 refugee woman farmers who are ready to begin propagating vetiver grass slips to get it established. Vetiver propagates by dividing it, so a minimal amount to start gives us the means to establish and spread it, a simple and elegant solution which can benefit the refugee population on so many levels. Anyone who wishes to help us can make a donation at: UMOJA Community Foundation:Regenerative Agriculture + Livelihood Development