By Humberto Márquez
CARACAS, Sep 7 2004 (IPS)

Ana Benítez is proud of the chicken-shaped woven basket she has produced, which can hold a dozen eggs, buns or fruit. Her family, in the town of Hato Viejo in northwestern Venezuela, has sold 180 of the pretty baskets in the space of just a few weeks.

“There are around 70 of us who work with vetiver grass, from planting it along the river to making and selling crafts. It is already my family’s main source of income, and is the only source of income for some members of the community,” Benítez commented to IPS.

Baskets like the ones Benítez makes can fetch, depending on their size and where they are sold, up to 20 dollars – equivalent to four days of wages for a rural labourer.

The same is true for the grass teddy bears produced by Doris Rivero in Santa Cruz de Aragua, near Caracas.

Luzmila Velarde weaves hats, María Jiménez purses, Marielvis Garrido placemats and coasters, and Gregoria de Sánchez oversees the production of garden furniture consisting of a covering of vetiver grass over metal frames.

In several states in central and northern Venezuela, hundreds of families in 14 different communities, some of which are extremely poor, have become involved in the programme for planting and processing vetiver grass promoted in workshops organised by the Fundación Polar, the cultural and community service arm of the country’s leading beer company.

Vetiver, which belongs to the tribe of grasses called the Andropogoneae, is a tall, dense, tropical wild grass with long narrow leaves and deep root systems. It is originally from India. There are at least 10 varieties of vetiver in Asia and Africa.

The species currently being propagated in Venezuela, Vetiveria zizanioides, adapts to virtually any kind of terrain between zero and 2,000 metres above sea level.

Because of its deep and fast-growing root system, “it is ideal and widely used to protect road-sides and riverbanks, preserve dikes and stabilise land by binding the earth. It can also be used to reduce pollution in lakes, as in Taihu Lake in China,” agronomist Alejandro Reyes explained to IPS.

However, “our project has mainly focused on improving the incomes of poor families and getting them involved in artisanal, commercial and tourism undertakings,” Oswaldo Luque, in charge of the Fundación Polar’s Vetiver Project, told IPS.

“We are not asking people to accompany us in singing the praise of trees, because for the poor, ecological questions are not their most pressing concern, although that concern can awaken further down the road,” said Luque.

In just three years, the Fundación has brought its workshops on planting and processing vetiver and producing and selling crafts to communities that are home to a total of around 6,000 people, said Luque.

The ideal time for planting vetiver grass is the start of the rainy season, when the soil is moist. One or two months later, when the narrow leaves are at least 20 cms long, they are harvested and placed in a small boiler to cook for a few minutes.

They are then left to drain overnight and to dry out in the sun for three days, after which they can be dyed with vegetable dyes or clay, to obtain earthtones ranging from cream to ochre to reddish shades. Before the fibres are used to make crafts, they are moistened again, to make them more pliable.

The grass is then ready to be shaped into a wide variety of objects by the skilled hands of Gregoria, Luzmila, Ana or Marielvis and their assistants, who include grandparents and young teenagers.

The leaves must be carefully cut and woven because the edges are sharp, even more so than Uva grass (Gynerium sagittatum) known here as “caña amarga”, whose stalks have been used for centuries to make straw hats and other traditional objects that can be found in any rural household in Venezuela.

In addition, the oil extracted from the roots of the aromatic vetiver plant is used to produce perfumes and colognes, essential oils and skin moisturisers, as well as insect repellent.

The plant is also used for medicinal purposes. Local peasant farmers say vetiver infusions cure stomach ailments, while proponents of aromatherapy use vetiver as a remedy for insomnia and stress.

Iris, who lives in the town of Birongo, in a cacao-producing area 60 km east of Caracas, planted vetiver in her yard. “We planted it to make tea, which is really good for stomach aches. Who would have thought we would end up using it to make crafts?”

Luzmila, who organises vetiver workshops and is one of the leaders of a cooperative micro-enterprise involving family members and neighbours, says the grass “is simply a stimulus for life.”

Researchers at several local universities are studying the projects being carried out in Venezuela, in preparation for the fourth international conference on vetiver, to be hosted by this South American country in 2006.

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