Coinciding with the World Day to combat desertification and drought yesterday, Tsirang Forest Division launched broom grass and agro-biodiversity diversification project in Semjhong Gewog. UNDP under small grant project is funding the project.
Under this project, more than 10,000 broom-grass plants will be grown in next two years. Farmers in Semjhong Gewog in Tsirang have been growing broom grass. According to them broom grasses are effective in reclaiming the lands lost to soil erosion.
Every monsoon people of Tashiling Chiwog under Semjhong Gewog live under constant threats of losing their farmland to landslides. The area under which the village falls is a landslide prone.
A 53-year-old, Chandra Lal Nepal, who lost a house to a landslide some decades ago recalls how he lost his parental house.”In 1986 our village faced the worst landslide. Two people were killed. That time I was 30 years old, and it was late in the night when the landslide occurred.” He said the flood created a sinkhole “It sank my house. We escaped the flood and spent the night with our neighbors.”
In 2013, a group called – Sarued Kagthap Detshen – was formed to control soil erosion in the locality which grew broom grasses on the waste lands. It started gaining popularity and today the group has covered seven acres of degraded land. “So far we have planted 10,000 broom grass saplings.” said the Chairperson of Group, Purna Bahadur Vista. ” We still have some saplings more. We brought the saplings from Sarpang.”
The initiative caught the attention of Tsirang Forest Division, resulting in to a broom grass and agro-biodiversity diversification project in Semjhong Gewog.
“A small group of people was already working on planting broom grass in a private land. Then we thought why not we promote it in a large scale and protect government land, as well as give them financial and other support.” said the Chief Forest Officer, Dimple Thapa. ” So with this project we will be able to plant 15 acres of the degraded land with 10,000 saplings of broom grass.”
The broom-grass takes about 2 to 3 years to mature. Apart from saving their lands from erosion, farmers are also expected to earn an income from selling brooms or use them to feed their livestock.
