Dollars and Scents

Vetiver is essential to perfume and cosmetic industries, but farming the roots of this sought-after grass is by no means glamorous. Heifer Haiti is supporting vetiver farmers through both the challenges of depending on a crop harvested only once a year and the difficulties of living in a disaster-prone part of the world.

At the top of the denuded hills that mark the community of Favette, Bernard Thelemaque toils in a field of wispy grass that grazes his knees. He’s barefoot, and both his feet and hands are lightly stained from the white rocks that dot the coarse soil. Using a pickaxe, Thelemaque pries up a clump of the grass, known as vetiver, careful to preserve the roots.

Read the full article from Heifer International.