CASCADE, Hanover — Farmer Byron Lewis wants more local farmers to cultivate Khus Khus grass.

Pointing to the “civil engineering” value of the weed which he has been cultivating since 2005, Lewis said the planting of it along hedges is one useful method of stemming soil erosion and land slippage.

“Roadway developers can turn to the Internet to examine the role Khus Khus is playing as part of Government’s road-median beautification and stabilisation programmes around the world. Homeowners should see benefits from establishing the grass where landslides are a threat,” he told the Observer West.

Born in Kingston in 1944, Lewis migrated to the United States while in fourth form at Kingston College.

There he represented Jamaica in the Triple and Long Jump at the Common Wealth games and the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) games. On finishing high school he attended the Morgan State University on a track scholarship and graduated at the top of his class . He subsequently read for a Masters degree in Labour Economics at the New York University.

He returned to Jamaica at various points during the ’70s and spent some time cultivating tomatoes in Mandeville for a while, but in 2002 on returning to help his business partner, Ray Harvey, with the Hanover Palms farm, he decided to stay for good.

Hanover Palms produces a variety of crops including cherries, soursops, guavas, Caribbean Pine and of course, Khus, Khus which grew out of the 2005 experiment.

“We were spending a lot of money on weed control I had known a little bit abvout Khus Khus and so we did our research in a bid to protect the land from erosion and we started to save more and more until now we are quite heavily into it,” he said.

Now he packages tiny cuttings of the root of the weed as a scented insect repellent on the local market which has expressed a strong interest in supplying it to the local perfume industry.

The leaves of the perennial grass which also thrives in sub-tropical conditions grow up to six feet high, with a strong, dense and mainly vertical root system capable of reaching a depth up to six feet. It can also be used for mulching; making thatches; basket and mat weaving, among medical and other purposes.

“It will survive under shade but prefer direct sunlight and humid to low humid conditions. Where shade is removed the grass recovers very quickly and often integrate quickly after fire. Khus Khus Khus will also survive total drought as well as complete submergence in water for up to three months unless rapid growth is required, no fertilising is necessary and if so poultry manure is deemed best on deep loam soils. However, it will grow on most soils types,” Lewis explained.

Lewis, who cultivates a variety of fruit crops on his Hanover Palms and Landscaping farm, where he also plants an abundance of Khus Khus weeds is inviting farmers to become members of the Jamaica Khus Khus growers Association which will be open for membership in October this year.