October 2021 Works

Handicraft training

Environment Tobago coordinated this exercise for IICA-EbA project partner IAMovement: To deliver a vetiver handicraft training programme.

Dates: 12-19th October. Our job involved sourcing furniture and arranging catering. One item of interest coming out of this: Several of the community teams’ female members who had initially expressed to participate only as ‘crafters’, asked to become ‘planters’.

Community member tries her hand on vetiver handicraft

Figure 4: Vetiver handicraft training session

Drone session

Environment Tobago accompanied Dr. Eben Broadbent of Florida State University on a first run mapping exercise from 19th-21th October. This was our NGO’s first exposure to LiDAR. In addition to his planned coverage of the vetiver installation in Charlotteville and the extended areas, Dr Broadbent also mapped the playing field of the l’Anse Fourmi Primary School - the extensive slippage there needing some vetiver in our opinion.

Florida State University based drone tutor in action

Figure 5: Florida University drone trainer and onlookers

Challenges of October

We begin to identify householders in Charlotteville who are open to the vetiver concept of soil stabilisation. We tried a radio broadcast (Radio Tambrin). The single session of 20 minutes aired on morning prime time produced 15 subscriber enquiries) - in addition those we got going by speaking directly to the villagers.

Work is ongoing. Petit Careme has broken the spell of hot weather. However the high humidity coupled with sporadic rainfall (too heavy when it does come) is posing a persistent threat to our installations. The vetiver at the Ebenezer Primary School (Coordinates: 11°14’58.1“N” -60°34’14.2“W”) is 75% dead.

Late in October. We have taken a decision to not use the project team to water (irrigate) the installations for two reasons:

  1. It is prohibitive. Moreso when we project the cost of labour to carry water buckets uphill.
  2. And unproductive. In that ‘pampering’ grass is an alien concept to this rural community. Moreso they’ve indicated they are hard-pressed to ‘share’ water on any plant not food or flower.

The search for a suitable vetiver nursery in the project target area is not going well. The shortlist includes a very well watered plot in the Ross Estate at Roxborough but the rent asked will not lend to ‘grass business profitability’. We also have a dialogue going on with the Nicholson family nearer to Charlotteville.

(Update at late March 2022) Many plants have thrown out new leaves. the present estimate is 80% are thriving and may do well with the April rains due.