Eradication of Lantana Camara (invasive species) for Soil Rehabilitation on Private Land
Type: Technologies
Creation: 2023-02-21 08:15 Updated: 2024-04-11 18:45
Compilers: Santosh Gupta
Reviewers: Udo Höggel, Joana Eichenberger, Sally Bunning
Country/ region/ locations where the Technology has been applied and which are covered by this assessment
- Country: India
- Region/ State/ Province: Madhya Pradesh
- Further specification of location (e.g. municipality, town, etc.), if relevant: Mandla
- Map: View Map
Description of the SLM Technology
Short description of the Technology
Lantana camara is an invasive species having severe ecological impacts on local biodiversity and economic impact on local communities. Lantana camara has proliferated in central India and occupied many forest lands, commons, and private land. The cut rootstock method provides minimum disturbance to the soil, wherein the plants' roots are cut three inches below the ground. It is followed by lifting the bush and keeping it upside down to prevent it from gaining ground.
Detailed description of the Technology
Introduced as an ornamental plant to India in the 1800s, Lantana has infested the forests, grazing grounds, and farmlands. It has invaded over 13 million hectares, which is around 4% of the total land area of the country. In the context of Madhya Pradesh, the species has encroached on shared and remote villages’ lands along the fringes of protected areas such as the Kanha Tiger Reserve, impacting wildlife and local communities in multiple ways.
Tribals in the Kanha landscape generally inhabit upper catchments of rivers, usually having large portions of uplands as part of their landholdings. These lands have never attracted investments from land development projects. They used to cultivate millets (particularly Kodo and Kutki) every alternate year. Apart from this crop, the farmers collect tendu leaves (Diospyros Melanoxylon) from these lands every year. Keeping the soil quality in view, they take these crops every alternate year and in some cases, once in three years with a gap of two years. This gap of two years helps Lantana spread on private land.
Traditional practices for controlling lantana camara are chopping the main stem, clipping aerial shoots, burning, and grubbing (total uprooting). These practices however, either led to vigorous regeneration of Lantana or were labor intensive. The cut rootstock method/technology applied under the project provides minimum disturbance to the soil, wherein the plants’ roots are cut three inches below the ground. It is followed by lifting the bush and keeping it upside down to prevent it from gaining ground.
The Foundation for Ecological Security (FES), an NGO located in India, has been working on the eradication of Lantana Camara from the commons land since 2010-11, however from the year 2016-17 onwards, with the support from GIZ, FES also started supporting village institution in eradicating Lantana from private upland. Significant activities are undertaken for the eradication of Lantana and as shown hereunder:
A. Improving community governance mechanism; local communities were engaged by ensuring that the village executive committee took the Gram Sabha (Village Governing Body) into confidence and prepared the by-laws to conserve the lantana-eradicated site. Rules and regulations were framed for the uprooting of the Lantana, its payment process, and usages of the uprooted Lantana for fencing the plot, preparation of biochar, or other usages providing ecological benefits.
B. Adoption of the ‘cut rootstock method’ for the uprooting of Lantana; removing Lantana is tricky because methods such as burning, haphazard uprooting, or cutting result in the recurrence of the species.
C. Appropriate measures were taken to minimize the recurrence of Lantana seeds through regular monitoring and plantation of grass seeds and other plants.
D. Grass seed sowing; with the active support of the village institution, the collection of indigenous grass species was done. Before the advent of the monsoon, the community prepared the grass seed ball and sowed it in the plot. A seed ball helps the seed to protect it from insects, birds, and runoff. In the rainy season, these grass seeds germinate and grow. With the grasses coming, the lantana seeds do not get a suitable environment to germinate and grow.
Eradication of Lantana from the private lands helps the communities access their lands. This has resulted in the cultivation of millets on the same land, which was otherwise left fallow for so many years.
Photos of the Technology
- 📍 Mandala, Madhya Pradesh, India
- 📷 Keertan Bhagel