Guinea grass (Megathyrsus Maximus) removal in organic farming

Guinea grass is considered as rapidly spreading invasive species. most of the countries this plant was introduced as a fodder plant but with the time this plant has became a weed and it has wiped out almost all local plants and changed the natural environment into thick grass land. 

first I like to see the good side of this plant. this plant grow in almost any terrain with warm climate it is supper fast growing plant. it is suitable to get fodder from marginal lands. Guinea grass produce good amount of biomass if water is available. according to my experience this plant help to recover extensively used farm lands because dead leafs and stems add large amount of biomass to soil and this biomass activate soil organisms. ultimately creating fertile soil

we can use this grass to improve our soil fertility specially if the land is marginal land or with minimal rainfall.  
other usage of this grass is it can use as fodder for livestock. you can plant this grass by its seeds, rhizomes, stems when 5% of plants  bear flowers you can cut grass and feed to livestock. or you can make hay or as silage. 
now we discuss negative side of this grass. first and  foremost factor is these grass verity is fast growing and rapidly spreading invasive plant that will spread by  its seeds. within short period of time this plants will cover its terrain by new plants germinated by  seeds from mature plants. ultimately this grass cover the soil and stop growth of native plants and weeds. this cause change of habitats fauna composition. some time this guinea grass eradicate native plant species. 

How can we remove this Guinea grass

conventional method of removing this grass is application of  herbicide such as glyphosate, or hexazinone, this is extremely harmful for nature. because these herbicides eliminate all plants in the field. at the same time this herbicides kill all soil organisms creating dead soil. remaining chemical residues add heavy metal to soil and ground water through leaching. end of the day both soil and ground water both resources poluted by herbicides. 

organic way of removing Guinea grass

first practical difficulty is this plant has very strong fibrous root system that grab soil. therefore it is difficult to uproot the plant. even you uproot it it will flush new roots and shoots and re-germinate unless you burn the whole plant. 

after several years this plants will mature and stems will be strong and older grass blades become dry hay at this time farmers use to burn this grass. this cause huge fire but roots remain intact and within short time this remaining roots will flush new shoots. therefore this fire method  is not effective.

with our experience we found this method that is hard to implement but successful when rainy season come we use to uproot the Guinea grass bushes (when soil is to wet it is comparatively easy to uproot ) then we remove soil intact with roots and leave plants to dry in a stack and when plants dry we use this plants as mulch to cover soil this mulching will inhibit new grass plant growth due to lack of sun light. at the same time this dead grass will protect soil from erosion and rain. when plant decompose with the time this grass will add organic matter to soil.

 

this is not easy but this practical less harmful for the nature. but using this method to commercial level is difficult. Home gardens permaculture projects this is ideal. we use this method and it seems successful and I like to see its results long run.