After a 3-month-long study in the Jankauli buffer zone community forest in eastern Chitwan, the scientists are preparing to use Mikania micrantha compost for agriculture purposes. [break]
Last year, a group of agriculture scientists had started a study to save crops from Mikania micrantha, which has become a major threat for plants and nuisance for the wildlife.
"Mikania micrantha vine should be cut before it flowers otherwise there will be a chance of further expansion of the weed if it is allowed to bear fruit," said Dr Rajesh Rai, who holds a Ph D on Mikania micrantha. Rai was of the opinion that the invading vine could be used as a good source of compost fertilizer. He further claimed that Mikania micrantha would not revive from the compost made from its vine cut before flowering.
He informed pervasive Mikania micrantha in Jankauli buffer zone community forest has deceased by around 90 percent after it was cut down for the third time. He also informed that the they were going to apply the same technique to contain the Mikania micrantha invasion in the Chitwan National Park also.
A three-day workshop to empower the local authorities to check the invading weed is currently under way in Chitwan. Assistant Professor at Pokhara Forestry Campus, Rajan Subedi, suggested launching concerted efforts to stop the expansion of the Mikania micrantha, which has been ubiquitously found in almost all forests. "There is no alternative other than to make compost from the vine to get rid of it," he said
According to Yam Bahadur Pariyar, the chairman of Buffer Zone Management Committee, the invading vine has been posing a real challenge for the conservation of bio-diversity and wildlife.
District Forest Officer Indra Sapkota said that they were introducing a provision requiring each community forest to manage two hectares of Mikania micrantha a year. Basudev Chapagain, the chairman of the Mirga Kunja Buffer Zone Consumer Committee, underscored the need for making a work plan to fight the invasion of the weed.
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