Bhoovastra serves the purpose of retaining the Earth’s moisture, protecting plant roots and preventing soil erosion during a heavy downpour
As the monsoon season slowly envelopes Kerala, the myriad canals in the State are undergoing a quiet but innovative makeover, with an eco-friendly cloth draped over their banks that is designed to stop erosion during the rains. This eco-friendly cloth called coir Bhoovastra is a natural cover made from coconut fibre that can be spread over the walls of canals, streams, farms and ponds. Bhoovastra serves the amazing purpose of retaining the Earth’s moisture, protecting the roots of the plants while at the same time preventing the soil from eroding during a heavy downpour. The fabric has a life of five-six years, post which it automatically disintegrates and biodegrades, thereby providing rich compost to the soil, which in turn promotes lush vegetation growth. Kerala is one of the foremost States that has introduced Bhoovastra in a major way on scores of its canals and streams. God’s own country, replete with its backwaters, idyllic ponds and other water-bodies is benefitting immensely from this innovative coir product. It has not only provided a fillip to the coir industry in the State, it has given employment to nearly two lakh families who are dependent on coir-making for their livelihood. Hence, Bhoovastra is an ideal combination of an eco-friendly initiative that protects the environment and also provides the benefit of a stable employment.
Bhoovastra is a geotextile product that has immense potential given its wide-ranging customisable applications and numerous benefits. The high tensile strength of the coir fabric is perfectly suitable for consolidating topsoil in steep embankments where heavy water flows and debris movement are common. Besides this, coir has excellent water absorbancy capacity which helps in it acting as mulch on the surface and as a wick in the soil mantle.
With benefits such as these, it is quite surprising that the embankments and slopes adjoining water-bodies across the country are yet to see Bhoovastra as a common feature, despite the fact that we are battling with the problem of soil degradation. Soil erosion is a major problem for the farmers of the country as it reduces soil fertility, which in turn negatively hits crop yields and forces growers to use more fertilisers, further harming the environment. Erosion of soil also sends soil-laden water downstream, which can create heavy layers of sediments that prevent streams and rivers from flowing smoothly and can eventually lead to flooding.
As soil erosion degrades land, it supports fewer plants that absorb climate-warming carbon dioxide. According to experts, soil could insulate enough greenhouse gases in a year to equal about five per cent of all yearly emissions. Better land management through the use of innovative products like the Bhoovastra can help keep soil intact so that it can grow more carbon-absorbing vegetation.
So, this lack of interest in using Bhoovastra to save precious soil, despite the fact that the green movement and demand for natural products is rising by the day across the world and in India, is puzzling. How come, when we have such a simple and eco-friendly solution to the huge problem of soil erosion, we are not talking about it or embracing it the way we should?
Given an opportunity, geotextiles such as Bhoovastra can play a stellar role in turning the clock back on degraded and eroded lands and help restore riparian and terrestrial habitats. The relatively high monetary and ecological cost of gravel, cement and other non-environment friendly building materials makes geotextiles the obvious choice for public work projects, especially when they involve rivers and other water bodies. Developed nations have already been leveraging the benefits of geotextiles, especially coir nets such as Bhoovastra for the last three decades. India, in fact, has been one of the largest exporters of coir geotextile products, with nearly 60 per cent of its coir production being exported to about 80 countries through a network of nearly 200 exporters.
Sadly, the domestic utilisation of geotextiles stays uninspiring. India produces a whopping 12,500 million coconuts and coir production is about 3,69,400 metric tonnes. However, husk utilisation is dismal at only 36 per cent, with the rest being used as polluting fuel or just being wasted. It is a mystery as to why the Government has not extracted the full potential of the coir industry in India. As it is, State-run entities such as the Coir Board are not able to hit a high gear either in marketing, sales or product branding and innovation due to bureaucratic hurdles or lethargy. On top of this, the handloom nature of the sector intuitively inhibits mass production, which in turn stunts growth possibilities. Given the brilliant product potential and abundance of raw material, it is time for the coir industry to become one of the most profitable industries of the country. For this to happen, the Government must work on mindsets and create awareness as well. For instance, the civil engineering profession currently focusses less on eco-friendly approaches for construction and more on the usage of brick and mortar. This needs to change. The use of organic and eco-friendly products like the Bhoovastra must be comprehensively implemented. This initiative can not only change the manner in which we conserve our water bodies and surrounding soil but more importantly can alter the way we perceive coir while providing jobs in a difficult economy.
(The writer is an environmental journalist)
