Hand2Earth

In June, the Field Champions team installed a first-class vetiver nursery in Madongoget at Mr. Providence's farm.

Many roots are in the ground. Split between the nursery and the contour installations, a whopping 635 vetiver plants were planted on the farm!

An integral part of Hand2Earth's projects is to facilitate the development of alternative, sustainable livelihoods for our participants. As a result, many participating farmers have installed vetiver nurseries on a section of their farmlands. In doing so, they are able to earn additional income through the sale of live vetiver plants (tillers) for our current and future projects. There's also the option of supplying vetiver grass to crafters as local demand increases.

The work continues as the team is on track to install Vetiver Systems on a total of seven North Leeward farms/sites between June and July 2026!

Hand2Earth's farmland restoration work continues to expand throughout the North Leeward area of mainland St. Vincent as part of the Inclusive GEF Assembly Challenge Program project titled Upscaling Vetiver Systems for Sustainable Farmland Recovery which is funded by Global Environment Facility and UNIDO - United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

The vetiver mission continues in Rose Hall! Another farm site where the century-old vetiver hedgerows were destroyed is now being restored as of June 2026.

As always, we have to recognize the tremendous work being done by the Field Champions team as they are bringing vetiver grass back into the communities one farm at a time under our 2025–2026 GEF-ACP farmland restoration project.

On June 4, 2026, Field Champions Percy, Herman, Jah-l and Mike prepared one contour line along which vetiver grass will be planted. They also prepped a section of the farm to be transformed into a vetiver nursery.

It was most definitely an awesome day of team work out on the land!!

Hand2Earth's farmland restoration work continues to expand throughout the North Leeward area of mainland St. Vincent as part of the Inclusive GEF Assembly Challenge Program project titled Upscaling Vetiver Systems for Sustainable Farmland Recovery which is funded by Global Environment Facility and UNIDO - United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

Felicia hails from the North Leeward community of Rose Bank. She attended our Vetiver Systems Technology (VST) training in March 2024 and took up the opportunity to learn vetiver grass craft in August of that year.

Since then, she's become a certified vetiver craft trainer whose work was exhibited locally at the 2025 edition of Everything Vincy Expo Plus. Her craftwork debuted on the international stage at an exhibition in Vienna, Austria as part of the UNIDO Climate Adaptation and Industrial Resilience Forum held in February 2026.

Through her influence in her household, her partner and teenage son are now involved in Hand2Earth's projects, having both received VST training for farmers in 2025.

Felicia continues to be a role model in her community as she encourages women and youths to get involved in vetiver craft production. She is currently in training to become one of our certified Vetiver Heritage Trail tour guides!

Hand2Earth's Vetiver Systems Technology training was delivered from September to November 2025 as part of the Inclusive GEF Assembly Challenge Program project titled Upscaling Vetiver Systems for Sustainable Farmland Recovery which is funded by Global Environment Facility and UNIDO - United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

Russell is one of the many farmers in the Vetiver Heritage Family group that's been extremely active from the very first moment he embarked on this vetiver journey with us.

He participated in the vetiver grass craft training in 2024 and has since become a proficient trainer himself. This year he trained his first cohort students from the community alongside craft trainers Fareeda and Felicia at the Vetiver Heritage Centre in Troumaca!

As a member of our Field Champions team, Russell has been putting his VST skills into practice working alongside other trained farmers to install Vetiver Systems throughout the North Leeward area

🌱on several farms,

💦in the gullies at Wharf Road and Little Bay,

🍀at our Vetiver Agri-Heritage Site to restore and maintain the 100-year-old hedgerows.

To top it all off, Russell is currently training to become one of our certified Vetiver Heritage Trail tour guides!

We look forward to seeing you continue to flourish, Russell.

This Hand2Earth Vetiver Systems Technology training was delivered from September to November 2025 as part of the Inclusive GEF Assembly Challenge Program project titled Upscaling Vetiver Systems for Sustainable Farmland Recovery which is funded by Global Environment Facility and UNIDO - United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

As part of our efforts to reduce the gully erosion happening in the area around Wharf Road and Little Bay in Troumaca, Hand2Earth's Field Champions team implemented several nature-based solutions to address the severe erosion and subsequent landslides.

Vetiver grass was planted along the land contours below Wharf Road to stabilize the bank. The same was done in the gardens and farmlands on the ridge above Wharf Road to reduce the occurrence of landslides and slippage.

Check dams, both stone and vegetative, were installed to slow down the water runoff, allowing the sediment to settle and remain on the land, as opposed to washing out to sea at Little Bay. Multiple stone check dams were built along Wharf Road, while check dams made from tree trunks were installed in the deeper gullies.

In addition to live staking indigenous shrubs and trees, the team has also been planting various types of local plants in the sedimentation that is being collected behind the check dams in the deep gullies.

All of these erosion control methods work together to:

🌊 Disrupt the force of rushing water and slow it down.

💧 Give the soil more time to soil to absorb the water runoff and retain the moisture.

🏝️ Allow sediment to be trapped and settle on the land instead of being washed into the bay downhill.

🌱 Promote the re-vegetation of the area and the development of healthy root systems that keep the soil in place.

🐞 Improve the biodiversity of the area which in turn supports local wildlife and pollinators.

🍀Reduce the risk of drought and desertification.

Within the first two months, the gullies noticeably leveled out, proving that the various interventions were preforming quite well. Our work at Wharf Road and Little Bay in Troumaca demonstrates how locally sourced solutions for soil erosion can be applied within communities to protect coastal ecosystems while managing the land within our watersheds.

Hand2Earth's 2025-2026 Environmental Recovery and Historic Preservation of Little Bay Beach through Erosion Mitigation and Sustainable Livelihood Creation project was made possible with grant funding provided by the SVG Conservation Fund.